It Takes A Village (Musty's NYFW Funding)

Hello! My name is Tyrone Smith, but many of you know I go by the alias of 'Musty'. Two years ago, I asked others to lend a hand in achieving the ideas I had developed for my design thesis project, "The New Regime". I was blessed, overwhelmed and grateful as I watched people come together to see me further achieve and pursue my designs without fear of monetary limitations. It was an incredible spectacle of human consideration and kindness. My thesis was produced the exact way I had wanted it to be, and that thesis has propelled my work to be published in VMagazine. That thesis, created through the act of unnecessary consideration and kindness, has catapulted me to have an opportunity to create a New York Fashion Week runway show, one that creates an environment and world where my voice can be its own.

I once again ask for the village, a village made of peers, colleagues, friends and family, to help me with an insurmountable task. The beauty of my work is that it is individualistic but focuses on the individual in a set environment. My work is contingent on the world around me and how I choose to interact with it based on my experiences and context. This crowdfunding is the same. This crowdfunding is as important to the narration of my work as the garments are. It is as informative and influential to my work as my own pattern drafting on my living room floor. I ask because I see this runway show as my shot into a door that has been notoriously considered hard to break down. But, it takes a village. The same village that helped me expand the barriers that I thought were inaccessible at the tail end of my undergraduate year in design. The funds made from this will goes towards manufacturing costs of $4,500, the acquisition of a venue which is priced at $2,900 for the amount of hours needed and the fabrics and trims along with manpower needed to kick down this barrier as well. Thank you for your time and I hope you consider! Even if you do not have the means to donate, I am eternally grateful for the distance that the village has given to my career thus far. From a kid from Jamaica, this all means a lot.

Love, Musty