Ambassador Digital Magazine Editor-In-Chief Musa Jackson is proud to honor our cover star ground breaking fashion designer Edward Buchanan. One of the first African American’s to ever design a ready-to-wear collection for a European luxury brand. In 1995 after graduating from Parsons School of Design, an unknown, unproven American moved to Italy, and was given the tremendous opportunity to design his first and their first ever Ready-to-Wear collection for Bottega Veneta. The success of collection garnered major fanfare helping to revitalize and modernize the luxury brand. After that he launched the extremely successful brand Leflesh. In the early 2000s, at the dawn of the celebrity brands he was the creative force behind Jennifer Lopez Sweetface brand as well as Sean John 10th anniversary collection. He gathered an impressive following amongst fashion elite and A-List celebrities with his own brand Sansovino 6 in which he helped to redefine knitwear. One of his most notable admirers was the newcomer Virgil Abloh. At Off-White, Edward not only collaborated on a knitwear line but the two men became dear friends. Edward shares his inspiring journey from his humble beginnings in Ohio to the heights of European fashion design. While he continues to move the needle forward creating safe design spaces for Black folks and People of color.
MUSA: You are originally from the Midwest. Born in Ohio. Tell us about your upbringing?
EDWARD: I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. We eventually moved to the suburbs. I was raised by a single mother. I have two brothers. I’m from a very tightly knit family. We are a creative family. My mother was a pianist and one of my brothers is a musician. Ohio was a beautiful place to grow up. I had a sound upbringing. I knew that I wouldn’t stay in Ohio. I got a good primary education and had a good family life. We were essentially lower middle class. My mother worked two jobs. Ohio is the swing state. It’s a place where we exited the Underground Railroad and at the same time one of the chapters of the Klu Klux Klan was created there. So you have this 50 / 50 mix of all these energies.
MUSA: You made your way to NYC and graduated from the prestigious Parsons School of Design in the ‘90s. Take us back to what it was like coming from a laid back midwestern environment into this great crazy city, studying fashion in the ‘90s?
EDWARD: I didn’t know what fashion design meant. I didn’t know how to define my interest in fashion. My first college was Columbus College of Art & Design in Columbus, Ohio. And my major was retail advertising. It was the business of fashion. And fashion illustration. I used to draw cartoons with my brothers so I made use of that skill. At the school what drove my interest was that it was one of the main hubs for Disney. They hired many illustrators from there. The foundation I got at Columbus prepared me for what I was to get in New York City. I was on scholarship and had to work everyday. I was working in visual merchandising which is just dressing windows. I was doing Benetton and then The Gap. Many of friends that were seniors at Columbus were moving to New York City. I knew I wanted to go to New York City even though I didn’t know what I wanted to do there. While working at The Gap I asked them if I could if do the windows for The Gap in New York City. I met with the company’s district manager and they hired me. I moved to New York City. Within six months I applied to Parsons School Design. Even though I didn’t have a fashion design portfolio I did have great illustrations. I put together this presentation and it got me a scholarship to Parsons. Because I had done my liberals and had a bachelors in fine art from Columbus I entered as a sophomore at Parsons. I was working at The Gap and going to school. One day I’m doing the window display when a guy started tapping on the window. He turned out to be representative from Giorgio Armani and offered me a job. Doing all those things at that period informed me of everything. I was learning merchandising, learning style. This was the ‘90s so it was a fantastic period. It truly informed everything that I am. I say I was born in Ohio, became an adult in New York City and became a professional in Italy. New York was my education on so many levels. I had no money in the beginning stages but you survive and figure it out. I met everyone who is closest to me in the club. I made most of my contacts in the club. I lived in Inwood then moved to the East Village. So I saw so many different communities. And the lower East side was a really vital, crazy, exciting, dangerous place. It was great. It’s the only period where there’s any kind of nostalgia attached to my upbringing. After a time I was making money and wearing Armani suits. I was prepared for the workforce.
MUSA: in 1995 you were the first African American designer to helm creatively the debut ready to wear collection for Bottega Veneta. You were an American, an unknown, hand selected to create a Ready-to-wear collection which was a success. What made them choose you and were you intimidated to have such an enormous responsibility?
EDWARD: I wasn’t intimidated because I was so green. I didn’t know what that meant. During that period all window display people were connected. There was the Barney’s window display people, Saks window display people. I made this really interesting group of friends. Rodney Patterson was one of those people. He was doing window displays for Bottega Veneta. He knew I was at Parsons and he said they were looking for a ready-to-wear designer. I didn’t even know what Bottega Veneta was at the time. I did my research and wasn’t impressed. Luxury brands didn’t really resonate with me. In the ‘90s I was thinking something completely different. I was into Helmet Lang and other forward designers had sparked my interest. It was a job so I put together a portfolio. Even though I didn’t really know luxury goods I met with Laura Moltedo, the owner. At the time Bottega Veneta was a family owned business. This was before Gucci Group ( now Kering) bought them. I instantly clicked with Laura. I was able to talk a game that I wasn’t able to support with my portfolio. But I was able to charm her and convince her that I was the right one for the job. I still didn’t understand the power of what was happening. The power of my skin color and how that related the position I was being hired for. I didn’t realize the power of me leaving Parsons and moving to Italy. I got hired and two weeks later I was flying to the main offices in Vicenza, Italy. I started working with their team. There wasn’t any fear because I had nothing to fear. I wasn’t scared of the opportunity. I didn’t know what to expect. The idea of that responsibility and what that meant didn’t come until much later. I was there to do a collection. It worked out really well. I launched the Bottega Veneta Ready -to Wear Collection.
MUSA: You’re work is wide ranging mix of ideals, from the street, politics, pop culture which has garnered you a great press and followers. You have worked with many celebs JLo and Sean Combs amongst them. What did working with two bigger than life personalities teach you?
EDWARD: I consider myself the designers designer. The creative process is really hands on. From the inside out. I never had this desire to being attached with celebrities in any way. After Bottega Veneta, I started a collection called Leflesh with Manuela Morin. It was this small luxury house based on creativity after being with this big luxury brand. People were interested in young designers moving into the 2000s. Jennifer Lopez stylist pulled something from us for a movie she was working on. They called me to work with Jennifer on this project called Sweetface. It was the period when a lot of these celebrities were doing these clothing lines attached to there names. They wanted to create these collections which in return would be the bait to attract consumers to all the things they were doing. They wanted me to come back to New York. I wasn’t really interested in coming back I was fine where I was. But I did came to New York. Jennifer was really cool, we immediately hit it off. We understood each other. We spoke a similar language. It was also a new experience for me. I had never worked on a celebrity based collection. I knew what she was as an entertainer and a woman. My job was to translate what I thought she was into a product. In the end it would be aspirational to a young woman that wanted to buy a JLo lipstick or cosmetic. So it was about building what she was as a character. I wasn’t intimidated by her impact. I was there to do a job. Of course I realized the star power. When she walked out of the office. All the paparazzi waiting outside for her. I knew what I was dealing with was not just another designer. The impact she had was very clear. It was a great and interesting experience working with her. Working with Sean or Puff was a magical experience for me. He could sell me an empty trash bag. So charming and very clear on what Sean John was for him as a brand. I started working with him on his tenth anniversary collection. They wanted me to direct the design process. It was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had. Different than any luxury house or celebrity because he was a bit chaotic but there was a method to his madness. Working with different creatives overlapping which never really happens in other companies. You could always understand what he wanted to happen at the end of the line. You understood the power that Puff had and his creative process and it was crossover of all these things. Here you have this powerful celebrity, musician, producer, actor, and designer. All these things coming together. My job was to pull from all those areas and streamline it into a collection which identified them as personalities. After that I was done designing for celebrities ( laughs) I’ve done smaller projects with high profile celebrities. I dress a lot of celebrities. But I’m really a designer.
MUSA: You officially moved to Milan many years ago. Tell us what the Italian culture has done for your life and career.
EDWARD: Twenty five plus years that I’m here in Italy. As an ex-pat you always feel like you’re an ex-pat. Even if you’re a Somalian that was born and raised in Italy you’re still an African to them. That’s very clear. And somehow I prefer it. Italy in the beginning stages was very rough. I moved to Italy in a time when me specifically working in fashion they visualized me as this American that worked in fashion. Or you were an ex-pat or African that sold Prada bags on the street. They didn’t see the division. I was this thing. I was constantly stopped on the street, the train, followed in grocery stores. That still happens today. The cultural shift from New York to Italy was vast. In New York City I could walk out of my house at 4 in the morning and go to a bodega. Those types of things were non existent there. I was this Black man who didn’t see many people that looked like me. I had to learn the language. Liaison between the business and the personal. I had to start from scratch in a way. My advantage was that I had a position and an apartment. That was my privilege. And I had a blue passport. At that time if you pulled out that blue passport if you were stopped, it was, “Okay, he’s American.” A Nigerian passport would have been a different scenario. That 360 click happened when I realized that my experience and what I was in America had to be pushed aside to a certain degree. I had to focus on understanding the politics involved, understanding really what it meant to be a Black man living in this country. So that involved creating opportunities for people who looked like me. There is alot of things I’m still working on that deals with someone who looks like me living in this country. Which was also quite magnificent at the same time. It was a real strain on just wanting to be a working fashion designer. When you walk out the door to only be reminded everyday what you look like.
MUSA: You have consulted for Virgil Abloh for his brand Off-White. Can you tell us what was that like and something about him we may not know?
EDWARD: I met Virgil actually from Kanye. I was contacted by Kanye many years ago because he was in the beginning stages of his collection. I knew of Virgil because he was a very good friend with my friend Marcella. I received a text message one day from Virgil. He was on the beach with Kanye. On his computer screen he had all these images of my collection. So they called me. Virgil was like I want you to speak with Kanye. I was like here I am with celebrity brand again. ( laughs) The things you think you’ve run away from comes right back to you. Kanye and I are born on the same day. June 8th. Gemini. The chaos and conversation of Kanye. He winds up coming to Italy. We couldn’t really solidify working together. I was super busy, there was just too much going on. Me and Virgil in that period became closer. He asked me several times to work with him in the beginning stages but I couldn’t do it because I was working on other projects along with my own collection. But I always had this enormous respect for the creative that Virgil was. We’re from different generations. He was speaking to a very different consumer. I was always curious. He always had a real connectedness with who his consumer was. We were actually in the same showroom when he launched Off-White. Years later he contacted me. He said to me, “ Listen Ed, I need some hot knitwear. You’re the hot knitwear guy let’s work on this together.” That was 5 years ago when I started working with him. The creative process for me is understanding who I’m working for. To understand what’s in their mind. I’m offering them ideas and creativity that speaks their language. I’m like the mediator. It became a fantastic relationship. The beautiful thing about Virgil was the generosity along with his respect for a veteran like myself. He was never shy of talking about me doing his knitwear. It was a seamless beautiful process. Every time we worked together it was all on WhatsApp. I wasn’t used to this rapid digital world he had created. His understanding of his brand and the world he was speaking to was absolutely monumental. What he taught me was know who you’re talking to. Know who you want your consumer to be. Speak directly to them. He absolutely did that. That was the beauty of his brand. In an incredibly short period of time he created this incredible hallmark. He was father, husband, son. He was this fucking incredible guy. Contrary to what many people who don’t know Virgil and his creative process. I had the honor of being a friend and collaborator. Besides Bottega Veneta, the real people who took a chance on me have all been people of color. Jennifer, Sean and Virgil. They were key to the course of my career.
MUSA: You have a very successful line Sansovino 6 that you launched in 2009. In this ever changing industry what does it take to keep your customer and engage new ones?
EDWARD: Honesty. I know that I work in a niche area within this monster of a fashion world. I specifically work on knitwear because it’s a medium that I love. It starts from a thread it’s malleable. I can do all these different things within the sector of knitwear. I always wanted it to be something very special. I know that creating my own brand, building it up from an idea to what my brand is today. It took me many years. I say honesty because I do what comes truthful to me. Unrelated to what other people might think on the other side. What people might want to suggest to me in terms of marketing. I can only keep it honest. If you look at the work and shows I’ve done for Sansovino 6, I’m always working with really close friends. Whether they be as models or they be as choreographers. I align with the creative forces that surround me because that’s the way I work. I’m never in a hurry. I don’t come out every season. I come out when I’m ready. I’m fortunate that I have the eyes and ears of an industry that are still watching. I had to work hard to arrive to the point where I can say this is mine. My name’s on the door. If you don’t like it fuck off but if you like it then I’m willing to have you come on in. Ownership.
MUSA:?What advice would you tell Edward that midwestern boy about what his life would become?
EDWARD: Be less calculated and take more risks. I would also say spend more time at home. When I left America. When I left my mom and my family, my closely knit family was always very close. My relatives which I was close to when I was young became kind of scattered. As I get older I realize the importance of family especially with those first and second cousins. That’s also something as I get older I want to work on. But I think that I kind of lived my life to the fullest and most exciting way that I can. As a young boy in Ohio. I knew that I would shoot for whatever the star I’m shooting for and that’s what I’m still working on.
-Musa Jackson
Shot on location in Paris, France at Plaza Republique.
Talent: Edward Buchanan @edward_l_buchanan designer of @sansovino6
Photographer: Marc Baptiste @marcbaptistephoto
Creative director: @iammusajackson
Photo manager: Jenny Baptiste
Video editor: @courtneydouglasphotophotography
First Look: Shirt & pants @highlight_studio
Hat: @EdwardBuchanan
Second Look: Sweater @zonenvanthor
Pants: @highlight_studio
Parka: @randomidentities
Shoes: @edwardbuchan
glasses: @rayban
Hat: @eppersonstudios
Third Look: coat: @HIGHLIGHT_STUDIO
patchwork shirt: @DRIESVANNOTEN
pleated jeans: @LOEWE
hat and shoes: @edwardbuchanan
glasses: @rayban
NY TEAM:
Founder & Editor In Chief:
Musa Jackson @iammusajackson
Creative Director: Paul Morejon
@Paulmorejon