Ambassador Digital Magazine Editor-In -Chief Musa Jackson sits down for an inspiring interview with award winning fashion designer A.Potts. Detroit born and raised native Aaron Potts attended the prestigious Parsons School of Design. He interned with some of the most creative names in fashion, Marc Jacobs, Tracy Reese and Donna Karan. He later designed for Emanuel Ungaro, Ellen Tracy, Escada, Tamara Mellon, Badgley Mischka to name a few. In 2019 he launched his eponymous A.Potts. His signature collection embodied his bold direction with inspiration from his southern roots, Black history, Japanese aesthetics and modern, age, non binary, gender defying twist with practical fabrics. He is the winner of the 2020 FGI Award for Best All-Gender design. He was chosen as a “Paradigm Shifting NYC Designer” by Harper’s Bazaar. Had a look featured in the Met Museum’s “In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion”. His clothes have been featured in Vogue, The NY Times, Harper’s Bazaar, L’Officiel, Paper. A favorite of stylists and culture creators such as Janet Jackson, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill, Jacob Elordi, H.E.R., Usher, Machine Gun Kelly, Ciara, Billy Porter, Angela Davis, Deon Cole, Amy Sherald, Chloe Bailey, Monet Xchange, Carol AIt, Robin Thede, George M. Johnson, Questlove and others from diverse genres such as dance, art, entertainment and fashion.
MUSA: Growing up in Detroit with parents from the south. How did that upbringing develop the man you are today?
AARON:Most of Detroit is from the south. So I felt like I had a southern upbringing more than anything. My parents were older. My mom and dad had a May December romance. My mom was 35 when she had me, my father was 53. So I had an old school upbringing. My dad was born before the Great Depression. People considered me an old soul because I really did grow up around old folks. I wouldn’t change it for anything. On one hand, I missed having parents that could go out throwing a baseball and all of that kind of stuff. The trade off was I was to very mature and independent at a very early age. My mom died when I was eleven. By the time she died I knew how to take care of myself. I knew how to clean the house, how to cook, how to pay bills. I was always an A student so I continued with that. So that upbringing set me up. My dad died at 17. That same year I moved to New York. That upbringing also saved me. I was really mature so I wasn’t hitting the streets. I was like an old man going to college. I needed that foundation for the life I would embark on.
MUSA: After attending Parsons School of Design you had internships for Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan and Tracey Reese before designing for Ungaro, Escada, Bagley Mischka to name a few. What experiences were you able garner from working for those giants?
AARON: They were all very important to me. Tracey Reese I knew of before I moved to New York. Because she was a local celebrity. She had moved to New York where she was designing and working. At the time I believe she was working at Perry Ellis. She went to Cas Tech. Which was the arts High school in Detroit. That’s where Diana Ross, Lily Tomlin went. All of our creative greats went to Cas Tech. I went to a college prep that was focused on academics but we happened to have a robust arts program. I won a scholarship to go the local college to take adult classes. The teacher that was teaching the fashion classes was Tracey Reese teacher from high school. I got the chance to see Tracey’s sketches and her work. She was so talented even back in high school. So when I moved to New York and met her, it was like meeting a hero. I got to work with her and over the years we became friends. There was something so important about hearing the stories and working with someone that was like me. That was from my background and had the same path as me. Seeing this woman doing it. She has always been supportive of me over the years. I worked with Marc Jacobs when he was with Perry Ellis. Marc was always bucking the system. He would find a way to do it his way. I really appreciated that. He would never do anything the way it was expected. He would do it with a twist. That stick with me in how I think about design. Donna is one of America’s greatest creative minds. I think she is unsung in terms of design greats. She’s an artist first. That’s what I learned from her is the art is first and you can actually build commerce from the art. A lot of American businesses do it the opposite way. Business first then try to sprinkle in some art. It comes across as inauthentic to me. Donna is an artist and she leads with that. I knew that when I did my own collection that is exactly how I wanted to move forward. Let the creativity lead and let everything fall in line after that. So you have an authentic voice.
MUSA: Tell us about the A.Potts brand?
AARON: I started A.Potts after I got laid off. I was shell shocked. The first thing I did was self care. Doing yoga and making clothes for myself that I couldn’t find. Initially I was inspired by Willi Smith and his Will Wear. I started making these clothes and people started asking me about them. One day I was standing in front of my closet and I realized I had put all the clothes I made for myself along with a couple of things like an African dashiki. I realized I had stopped wearing all my other clothes. That was my light bulb moment. This is what I was wearing every day. So the brand for me was about marrying art with some degree of politics while really leaning into true diversity. I wanted that to be a central focus. I wanted clothes that you wouldn’t have to change your wardrobe if you gained a few pounds. And then the unisex part of it was that I wanted to take down all the barriers around size, age, color, gender. That’s how it all started. Outside of the creative side of it this business is a tough business and vicious business. I wanted to create a working environment that was about centering creativity that was about real creative collaboration. I have so many talented friends that I wanted to work with. A business that you could go to every day.
MUSA: You live upstate on a beautiful piece of property not far from where Sojourner Truth resided. Do you feel some type of ancestral connection between your work?
AARON: It’s so interesting I didn’t know all of that stuff about Sojourner Truth until after I moved up there. So I don’t know if there was some type of draw for me there. I actually live between Brooklyn and up there. I don’t think things happen by chance. I think there was some energy draw for me to end of there. I found that there was a homestead on the next road over from us that in the mid thirties was a religious organization that started an affordable farm for the interracial community. There was a push for integration and equality. There is actually a plaque up on the barn where all of this stuff happened. The other connection I have is it reminds me of my father. Even though I’m from Detroit I grew up like a country kid. We were always fishing and camping. We had a big RV. My dad retired when I was a little kid. I’ve probably been to every state east of the Mississippi River. When I’m upstate it reminds me so much of my father and my childhood. When we found that place it felt like home.
MUSA: You have been in the design game for a long time. Your designs are leading the way to more individualistic non-binary approach to fashion which is still a pretty new and revolutionary concept. Are you inspired by the what you see out there or are we finally seeing you?
AARON: The whole unisex thing was established in the sixties by the designer Rudi Gernreich. A revolutionary American designer. He was the Paco Rabanne of America. Just so inventive. He invented the monokini. So that’s where unisex came from. People have been doing iterations of it. I do like making certain political statements. Whether it’s in your face or more subtle. There has been so much talk about gender identity so I wanted to lean into that because I do think that’s the future. We can make less stuff by just designing a smaller amount of things that works for everyone. I’ve been in this business a long time, 30 years. I think things happen in the time it was supposed to happen. Every designer wants their own collection but I don’t know if I would have been mature enough, have enough experience, know where to go or how to put things together properly. I’m just going to enjoy the moment. I do think I’ve had a lot to say in fashion. Working for other people doesn’t always allow you to say that. Working for myself I can say what I want to say and talk about what I want to talk about. Whether verbal or through the clothes.
MUSA: How does it feel having your clothes seen on the likes of Janet Jackson, Chloe Bailey, Usher, Queen Latifah, H.E.R. Billy Porter, Questlove?
AARON: I’m not a person impressed by fame. I’m impressed by art. I’m impressed by people who make art that impacts culture. I’m in awe and proud that these people are true artists and basing their lives off of true creativity. These are the people that are identifying with my clothes. I get that feeling whether it’s Janet Jackson who I have adored my entire life or a fine artist like Amy Sherrold. We have authors and producers, these are people who are creating the culture that we all partake in. So for me they are griots of culture. For those people to buy, wear and like my clothes I feel blessed and honored. Sometimes It seems unreal to me.
MUSA: Has the fashion industry changed its response towards Black designers post pandemic?
AARON: You want to get me in trouble. ( laughs) I believe that a lot of times the people in power don’t understand or know black culture. They don’t have a full understanding of black culture or black beauty. I think that sometimes what we see is certain people leveling up because people in power don’t understand who to focus on. There has been more opportunities for black designers post pandemic but that’s drying up. People are reverting back to what once was. It’s a little better than what it was. That’s why you have to have black people in the room. Not just a model or designer. You have to have black people in every area because they can guide what is real for blackness and black culture. You have to have them in the design room and also in the board room. Have them in the PR agency and model agencies. They can educate people on what black excellence truly is.
MUSA: I love your decision to have a very diverse group of models. Regardless of age, race, gender identity. What’s the ultimate message we should take from that?
AARON: For me it’s about how our spirits connect. Our outside body is just a vessel. Who we are is based on our spirit, personality. Who I’m speaking to is that expressive artistic person. That can come in any body. I am trying to speak to that persons soul. Whether you’re making music and selling ten million records or if you a person who is writing an article for the local paper in a coffee shop around the corner. That’s who I’m reaching out to.
MUSA: You are helping to usher in a new era in fashion. What would you like to see come next?
AARON: I would like to see more support and more emphasis on American design. The American fashion industry has shot it self in the foot. It’s bleeding profusely at this point. I hope for a renaissance of American design and talent. People supporting American design.
MUSA: Lastly what would you tell that young aspiring creative trying to find themselves as they make their way in this world?
AARON: I would say to work on yourself as a person. Your job is wonderful and what you do is wonderful but the basis of all of that is actually you. So you have to be a well rounded happy healthy passionate person. That is the most important thing. I feel that has been missing from fashion. We need more people that are aware of how they fit in the world. I would say to young people that is the goal. That is what we’re here for. What we do for a living is just an expression of what we are as a person. So work on who you are as a person first. (laughs)
-Musa Jackson
Cover Star: Aaron Potts
Interviewer: @iammusajackson
Creative Director/ Photographer: @MarcBaptistephoto
Stylist: @A_potts
Creative Production: Gordon Oscar
Hair/ Make Up: @CrystalBlakephotography
Design Associate & BTS: @CalebRyanWells
All Clothing: @A_potts
Models:
@Jadenotjane
@_TrevonMakel
@AJAbdullah.3_
NY TEAM:
Founder & Editor In Chief:
Musa Jackson @iammusajackson
Art Director/ Cover & Editorial Graphics:
Paul Morejon Paul Morejón Studio