INSIDE THE INDUSTRY: DESIGNER JEROME LAMAAR

You have seen Jerome Lamaar on Kimora Lee Simmons’ Life in the Fab Lane, but this time around the young designer is on his own lane to take over the fashion world.

New York – I recently interviewed designer Jerome Lamaar for the April Issue of the W27 Newspaper, and after finding out that he loved The Blay Report, I couldn’t help but feature him in our next industry profile. I sat down with the designer to talk about his educational foundation and what he is up to now.

OK so first, how long have you been interested in fashion?

My interest in fashion began at the early age of 5 when my parents realized that I drew a picture of their wedding photo with emphasis on my mother’s gown. I believe that is what inspired me to continue my love of fashion which later lead me into Art and Design High School where I embraced further aspirations.

And you went to school at FIT?  Why did you choose to go there and what did you study?

Growing up my mother would take my siblings and me into the city on the weekends, and I remember passing FIT as a child and thinking to myself, “I want to go to FIT when I grow up”. Years went by and I began taking Saturday Live classes as a Junior and Senior in high school which made it a natural transition into my college freshman year at FIT.

Amazing! So if you could do it all over again, would you do anything differently or have chosen a different educational foundation?

If I could do it all over again, I would’ve switched my major to Accessories design rather than Fabric Styling after I got my Associates in Fashion Design. I recently realized that my heart always lead me to design great accessories before I even developed concepts for the garments.

Designing for Baby Phat, you were so young! What was that like? And we all have seen the show, but how was it working off camera?

I began working for Baby Phat while in high school and for a long time it was all I knew. Working there allowed me to go to school, travel, and design freely. It opened up many doors for me to work with brands like Manolo Blahnik, top supermodels, celebrities and huge stylist. I really loved working there and the only reason why I resigned was to grow and experience more life before I got to old. Everything you saw is how it would be when the cameras were off. We were a working family and Kimora was the mother of us all.

You most notably said, “I’ve gone from Baby Phat and Kimora’s Fab Lane to my own lane.” Let us know what you are up to now. Describe going from Reality TV to the Real World.

That statement signifies my independence. After working for such a huge brand I needed to let go of someone else’s dream and develop my own.  I am now focusing on my luxury accessories collection named Compleated. It’s much harder to start your own universe and that’s exactly what I am focusing on. To develop a following and my own aesthetic, I have created my online journal for my brand to ease my point of view into the world. I don’t know if everyone really understands me but hopefully in due time my view will be understood.

To check out more from Jerome,  head on to www.compleatist.blogspot.com or  follow him on Twitter @jeromelamaar.

Image Courtesy of Jerome Lamaar