We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shontay RacQuel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shontay below.

Shontay, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

“Wow, her hair is really thick.” “Why don’t you give her a perm?” ‘Does she cry when you comb her hair?” These are a few of the comments that I often overheard from others concerning my natural state of hair, growing up as a little black girl in the 1990s. This unfortunate yet common experience inspired me to create one of the most meaningful and powerful collections during my final year of graduate school at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
My collection, “Cheveux Noirs” was inspired by the 1960s Black Power movement and Black is Beautiful movement. The “Black is Beautiful” movement that transpired from the Black Power movement of the 1960s inspired African Americans to proudly accept every kink and curl of their natural Black hair, and reject the pressure of straightening and relaxing their hair as a way of meeting European standards of beauty. Although in present day natural African American hair is more commonly seen and accepted by most cultures, there are still some forms of rejection. There is also an issue with others assuming it is permissible to impulsively reach out and touch an African American’s hair, because they are fascinated by their puffs, poofs, afros, braids, cornrows, twists, or overall texture because they are curious to what it feels like.
When I first started the process of creating my collection, my goal was to create a collection of garments that are aesthetically pleasing to look at and has an irresistible touching sensation, yet it gives an uncomfortable and unpleasant feeling when touched. The Afro is a signature look that became popular in the 1960’s and served as both a fashion statement and political statement and still has dual meaning in the current day and I wanted my collection to evoke the same feeling. I decided I wanted to use actual hair extensions to construct my garments, as a cultural statement to show the beauty of such a natural and raw feature that is often taken for granted. They are created to portray the powerful message and history of natural African American hair, through fashion, yet the boldness and volume of the garments are made to invade anyone who comes near personal space and makes them feel uncomfortable. This correlates to the feeling that many African Americans feel when they are not only judged and discriminated against, because of their natural hair, as well as the uncomfortable feeling of someone touching their natural hair just because they are fascinated with their puffs and curls.

Shontay, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I decided that I wanted to be a fashion designer around my Junior year of high school. I would often manipulate and cut my store bought clothing to make my clothes more eclectic, but I never thought that this was something I seriously wanted to do as a career. Once I entered highschool, the natural feeling of wanting to fit in took over, and I began to tone down my style of clothing. Personally, I never thought there was anything spectacular about the way that I dressed but I would often get compliments by people of all ages on my style of clothing. After hearing it more and more, I decided to take heed in the greatness that others saw in me and decided to enroll in Cazenovia College where I studied fashion design and earned my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts. I was always pretty shy and never liked to be the center of attention. While in college, I often pictured myself living in a small town, living a quiet life, and doing what I love, designing fashion collections. However, once I graduated from college, my life took off in another direction.
I went back to my job or working at a children’s museum. I was one of the guest hosts, but my managers also allowed me to help out alongside another coworker with repairing and sewing some of the museum’s costumes. It was also at that moment when I realized in order to be successful in this industry, I had to get up and make moves for myself. Around that time, I had a jacket in mind that I wanted to make for THE Michelle Williams. In a world with social media, almost anything is possible so after weeks of having that on my mind, I decided to reach out to her and ask her if I could create something for her and her response was yes.
I grew up as a huge fan so that was just a dream come true. And it literally showed me that anything is possible. That was the initial fuel that I needed to start my engine. My confidence as a designer and individual began to grow and I decided to start taking more leaps of faith when it came to my career. Once again, I would utilize social media and look for upcoming fashion shows and inquire about being added to the roster. I would travel all over to showcase my collections and network with other artists. I do believe that was one trait that helped me stand out from others. I was always willing to put the work in to reach my goals. A lot of my time during my first couple of years was spent on either the Greyhound or the Megabus. I had a part time job at the time so to cut back on expenses, I would get the vacuum seal bags and squeeze my collection into my suitcase and bring my portable air pump for my commute back and I would take 20+ hour trips from New York to Atlanta, GA. I would also take an overnight Greyhound bus from upstate NY to NYC, arrive in the city early in the morning, and walk around until it was time to arrive at the venue. If I was running behind with my sewing, I wouldn’t even sleep on the bus. I would sit on the bus hand sewing the rest of my collection. Once the show was over, I would put my clothing back into the vacuum seal bags and take an overnight bus back home and sometimes would have to be at work the following day.
I am so glad that I made those sacrifices early on and I am thankful that my gift is able to provide for me and this is now what I do full time. All those experiences were also able to bring me out of my shell a bit. Growing up in church, I was always the painfully shy kid who would hide under the bench and once I outgrew under the bench, I would bend/ hide behind the pew whenever they were calling up volunteers to testify, read the scripture, present Sunday School review…etc. Now, I get up and talk or introduce my collection to a multitude of people without a second thought, even when I am told right on the spot. All of these experiences keep me humbled yet motivated. I still describe myself as a bit shy and reserved. I like to let my art and collections speak for me without me having to verbally say one word. I describe my designs as being bold and one of a kind with having at least one show-stopping moment during fashion shows, which leaves the audience remembering my name at the end of the night.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn was caring about what others thought about me. Besides growing up shy, I was also an overthinker and was always extremely hard on myself and would give others grace but not give myself that same grace for not being perfect. Art in general is very subjective and not everyone is going to be a fan of your work. I noticed that my best pieces are pieces that I created when I felt free and when I stayed true to myself and did not overthink the process. Another big lesson that I had to learn was knowing the difference between being humble and having low self esteem. I had to learn that I am worthy, I am valuable, I am important, I am incredible, and I am unique. These are words of affirmations that I actually have framed on my room’s wall. In order to live life to my full potential I had to let go of these toxic traits and some are still a work in progress. That’s where I would encourage having some type of professional therapist or counselor to make the process a bit easier in this industry.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creator is waking up every day to do what I love. When I am having a down moment, I take that moment to feel down but fortunately, I cannot stay down for long. I have orders to fulfill so I need to get sewing and sewing is my happy place. As unmotivated as I may feel at that moment, once I turn my music on and get to sewing, I am not down for long. I also love seeing models’ and clients’ reactions when they are in my clothes. I may be beating myself up over something I felt that I could have executed better but once I see their face light up and how much I love it, that makes me feel happy and special and like I’m the one who really won.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shontayracquel.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/shontayracquel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShontayRacQuel/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shontayracquel
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@shontayracquel

Image Credits
Models- @mandylopata, @leaberation, @wifeyjinx, @mercedes.bankhead Photographers- @jhenejpeg, @picsxdnae, @mrgood.arte