JORDAN MIKHAL
Fashion Designer.
Published November 9 2023 for Issue No.1
Interview by: Chandler Crump
Photography by: Chandler Crump
Stylist: Chandler Crump
CHANDLER CRUMP (CC): This is the first time we’ve met.
JORDAN MIKHAL (JM): Yeah!
CC: And I know you’re a fashion designer but, tell me more about where you’re from.
JM: I’m from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, born and raised. Currently based there. I have my own brand called A LOVED 1and it specializes in one-of-ones because I believe we’re all one-of-one. So most of what you’ll see [on the website] are limited quantities or one-of-a-kind pieces.
My brand’s story is very personal. It came from a place of soul-searching and a very transitional time in my life. With COVID, I was a Junior in college living on my own, and had this track for myself on graduating and getting a job. I double-majored in fashion design and merchandising. But [with COVID], I had to regroup and figure out what I wanted.
CC: So you moved back home when you were trying to figure things out?
JM: Yeah, trying to do school from home, the whole nine. And so I started my brand, and the name came from a chalkboard in my room that says “A loved one”. I wrote it before college and [it was] perpetually there when I’d come home. And I was thinking, “That would be a cool brand name” that would sum up what I was doing: getting back to myself and using [my] creativity as a vehicle.
CC: I'm guessing your education taught you [certain] steps for fabrication and business – what was the first hurdle that you had to cross creating this business at home? Was the first step designs and then sourcing?
JM: Honestly, to this day, the first hurdle was me.
CC: Period.
JM: Even now, I’m relearning that, because it never goes away. Where I come from, nobody went to school for fashion full-time or [had] a creative field for their full time job-
CC: Same-
JM: And no one in my immediate circle above me started a business on their own.
CC: Especially in this age of social media driving marketing and opening avenues of entrepreneurship, it’s an entirely different ball game than it was for our parents.
JM: Yea. [I tried to] keep that in mind and understand myself as a person: what do I like about business and what do I not like. It took a lot of research. Not going to lie, I was on Reddit alot, reading about people doing what I was trying to do. I really had to make the bites palatable for me. It’s daunting to think about entrepreneurship.
CC: I think about motivational speakers!
JM: Yes! Like Diddy, people constantly on call with two phones-
CC: Two phones and an LLC!
JM: Literally. The biggest hurdle to start was myself and making those perceived hurdles more palatable for me. I did everything on my own terms with an a la carte approach. If I can get my LLC and get all my tax numbers bundled in one using this service, let’s do it that way. It was a lot of research, trial, and error. I’m pretty risk-averse.
CC: To put your name on anything is scary, and to involve the IRS on anything is insane, any form [asking for your] SSN is like “SOS”.
JM: That’s a good question. When I first started the brand, I just knew that there was a style in me that I’ve always died to express and gravitated towards. “Visual play”; [pieces that force] my eyes to dance. It’s usually pattern-driven for me so at the time, I was making bucket hats at the beginning of the pandemic. I’m super particular about the print and the patterns matching up. And one of my aunt’s friends got word that I was making these hats and he asked if I could make him one; he was really astounded by the quality and how I lined the patterns up.
CC: Did you design the shape of the hat as well?
JM: It’s off the general bucket-hat pattern. And I’m a bag girly. I remember being a design student and always trying to find this perfect bag that fit [everything] but was [also] fly. So at the beginning of my business, I had a bucket hat, a sun hat, and studio bag. And they all had the same quality with mismatched or intricate patterns.
CC: Did you design the bag shape, or is that something you had to engineer?
JM: [Engineer]. I had a bag shape in mind and then I tweaked it to accommodate the sketch books being bigger. I used to never be able to close my bag because of my sketchbooks and my pens and pencils.
And two straps. The stylistic flair of each bag [had to be] different. So I tried to keep my silhouettes basic because I like the prints to tell the story.
CC: In terms of print designing, is that hand-drawn first and then digitized on a software? How does one go about designing a print and what does that process look like for you in terms of color and curves?
JM: If I have a prompt that I’m given, I like the pattern to go beyond what the clothes are. I like to find a deeper connection to the subject. For instance I just designed a shirt for a popular brand; it will be released in Feburary but the pattern I designed represents the ebb and flow of life. I also recently designed for Eric Emanuel.
Photo courtesy of Jordan Mikhal for Eric Emanuel.
JM: Whatever I pick has to have that deeper personal or spiritual meaning behind it. But in terms of the process itself, I find myself the most comfortable with pencil and paper.
A pause as a bee begins to hover around us.
JM: And then I transfer to Adobe Illustrate. But you really can’t go wrong with pencil and paper. You can make mistakes and erase them.
CC: Also you’re mind – when I handwrite, I think a different way versus typing.
JM: It’s the flow, an energy; it goes beyond what you’re writing. I’ll sometimes dance between the laptop and the computer.
CC: A forced interaction with the physicality of the prints. It’s coming from you - there’s no barrier-Oh my god, this bee…
Do you design for someone each time? Or Is it based on the inspiration you have from the patterns?
JM: Honestly, I design from the pattern of the fabric first. If I see a pattern I’m drawn to, I can see it on a dress or a shirt. I just made this dress for this trip not too long ago and I’ve sat on this fabric for about two years and [suddenly] I didn’t see it any other way but as a dress.
I let the pattern tell me what to do. I don’t sketch everything, but I let whatever I’m looking at drive me. And that helps with the uniqueness of what I’m doing.
CC: Some people are afraid of patterns and color. Sometimes it feels like with “luxury”, everything has to be super black and white which is obviously the fashion industry gatekeeping. What are your thoughts on that in terms of breaking the conventions of pattern?
JM: I think it’s more so…it’s like a social sway. People are afraid until somebody tells them not to be afraid. But some groups of people aren’t afraid because that’s all you have and what you create from. In terms of my upbringing, we worked with what we had. I have seen in the luxury space how people veer away from color.
Living in Italy [for study abroad], one of the things they told us before we came was “a lot of Europeans stick to neutrals, everything’s pretty conservative. If you don’t want to look American, dress X amount of way”. Meanwhile I’m there with a bright orange Superdry coat and pink Uggs.
CC: I’m so jealous you got to go to Italy.
JM: That changed my perspective of how I question my relationship with fashion. Being in certain spaces where you see everybody in these neutral colors. [I embraced] the space that color takes up in my life. Right now I have these green glasses-
She points to her face-
CC: And I’m wearing my green loafers!
JM: And I love them! I just love seeing pops of color. I think as far as luxury and streetwear, to me, I just interpret it as expression. Luxury was the highest quality way that I can express myself. Yeah, some of their undertones of construction matter because it does decipher something from being luxury versus something consumable by the masses. And that does matter. True luxury to me is being able to express yourself in every way.
JM: That’s a great question…I would definitely say: it’s a one of a kind experience that is meant to reflect ourselves as individuals. I see my brand as a poem for other people to find themselves; whoever identifies with it will identify. A LOVED 1 is an extension of my self expression and there’s a home for whoever.
CC: It is what it is!
JM: It is! It’s a loved one, we express ourselves outwardly. I want my brand to be a physical representation of how people feel on the inside. If you chose to put on A LOVED 1 t-shirt or bag, it’s meant to encourage someone outwardly. We want the internal encouragement to be there too.
CC: I’m manifesting Oprah or Beyoncé for you right now. Putting this out there first on the record! Tess Thompson! I feel it…
JM: I like to be comfortable, nothing too lose. One of my A LOVED 1 t-shirts. And some shorts.
JM: At the moment: my new birthday bag, the Staud Millefiori bag. My Dr. Martens - sandals, platforms, everything. I’m a Dr. Marten girly before heels. And my green glasses.
Fin
