In a simple and quaint sitting room, a young girl of 6 years old, quietly but decidedly claimed the corner, paisley upholstered chair as her own. It was in this “studio” she laid her tools across the arm and proceeded to hand-sew a simple A-line dress for her otherwise bare babydoll. From a few scraps of purple velvet and lavender thread, Shauntele created her first original design, adding the embroidery of a simple 4-stitch heart motif across the centerfront to complete her vision.

That young artist is still very much a part of the Shauntele aesthetic as her collections capture a multidimensional femininity of tailored, close fitting constructions coupled with the innocence of a young girl’s fancy for blossoms and butterflies. It is no mistake that Shauntele elegantly explores the theme of emergence. Flower-like trimmings, surfacing around the neckline and hems, compliment classic silhouettes while bright colors make a triumphant but cohesive stand against masculine darks and soft neutrals.

Her inspiration usually derives from music as she imagines “a song to be the same expressive medium for a musician as a dress is for a designer. You wear every thread of that harmony and become linked with every strand, every color of that melody.”

From her first design internship at Nikka to her experience tailoring for the likes Jessica Simpson and Judy Reyes, Shauntele has developed a style ushering in a new phase of appreciation for the female form. The lines are flattering yet concealing as she strives to highlight a woman’s very best assets. Jorge Ramon, former fashion editor of Teen People, has called her collection “newsworthy,” while socialites in the know, such as Ivanka Trump, are slowly taking note of this new fashion gem.

Fashionindie.com
Philadelphia Inquirer
Jet Magazine
Fashion's Night Out (NY)

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