THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 24, 1995 TAG: 9504220042
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 114 lines
IT WAS A DAY that went down in Myers family history: the day, a few years back, when the Portsmouth family realized 13-year-old Audrey was more than just casually interested in the world of fashion design.
It was the day the dining room curtains turned up missing.
``I walked into the room and wondered, `What in the world has happened here?' '' says Audrey's mother, Doretha Myers, laughing.
``Audrey had taken the curtains down and had made me a dress. Made her own pattern, sewed it, everything. It looked pretty good, too.''
Now 20, Audrey can't remember why the black-and-purple drapes fell prey to her growing passion for couture. She says it was simply one of those quirky things that have made her the up-and-coming fashion designer she is today.
Myers owns two design companies, Greek to Me, which was recently awarded a national contract to design fraternity wear and other college clothing, and IAMAD (I Am A Designer), which handles company-uniform designs as well as fashion-show and prom-dress requests.
``I like everything about fashion design. It's like putting together a puzzle,'' Myers says, looking at one of her most prized creations, a wedding dress of white leather.
``The praise, or when someone really enjoys my work, is better than money I could get for it.''
Myers' fascination with fashion began even earlier than when she designed a dress from the drapes, her mother says.
``She was 3 months old when she started,'' Doretha says. ``She'd always unravel her socks. String by string. We'd put her down for a nap and come back, and there'd be Audrey and a pile of string.''
As Audrey got older, her grandmother taught her to crochet, and her mother taught her to sew. By age 6 or 7, she was making napkins and baby clothes with a toy sewing machine.
The real thing came on her 13th birthday. A Singer sewing machine. Myers' fate was sealed.
First came the infamous black-and-purple ensemble. Then she was making her own clothes for high school. She designed and sewed her junior prom dress - a white Lycra-and-lace concoction with rhinestone spaghetti straps - two evenings before the dance.
Such quick turnaround is standard. ``A week is a long time for me,'' Myers says.
``Once I start, I usually move through it pretty quickly. . . . I usually get the design in my head and go from there. I sketch it out, but I'm taking a drawing class now so that I can do a better job at that.''
After high school, Myers began studying fashion design at Norfolk State University. She also focused on how to make it in business. She's become a board member of the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs, making precious contacts with fellow designers and others in the clothing industry. She's tried hobnobbing with a few celebrities.
``When I heard (professional basketball players) Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning were getting married, I wrote them letters, offering to design their brides' wedding gowns,'' Myers says.
``I figured that would be a great way to get my foot in the door.''
Her work is paying off. She didn't hear from the NBA stars, but last year she was invited to showcase some of her work in a Washington, D.C., fashion show sponsored by then-Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly. In November, Myers will participate in a showing in Argentina, and she's now preparing 30 outfits for a New York City fashion show to benefit abused children. She's donating the clothes to the models, all of whom are abuse victims.
``I'm making everything from prom dresses to a boxing outfit that one guy asked for,'' Myers says. ``I want to make them something that they will like and can use again.''
Her mom is amazed by her daughter's persistence.
``The one thing she's learned is that `no' doesn't mean she can't do it,'' Doretha Myers says. ``It means she has to take another avenue, and she's found many avenues.''
Myers is finding her way, but she still encounters folks who don't see her work as a serious vocation; folks who apparently haven't visited Myers at her family's Crystal Lakes home, where she works.
One day recently, the dining-room table was covered with rolls and rolls of paper. Myers was designing uniforms for a Phoenix-based electrical company and a line of graduation-gift teddy bears.
The Singer is still around, sitting upstairs in a sewing room where the path to the pedal is hidden beneath mounds of cloth and patterns. Stacks of spring fabrics fill a bookshelf on the right side of the room; wools and heavy knits are stocked on the left.
In her bedroom, red lace bell-bottom pants are just one of many things squished in her closet. Files on clients, many of them repeat customers, sit in a corner cabinet.
Some people question the quality of the work because it doesn't appear on a store rack, Myers says. At least, not yet.
``Locally, sometimes people think I'm just a seamstress,'' Myers says, traces of frustration in her voice.
``Some people look at it and act as if because you made it, it's supposed to be free. Some people don't realize the garments in clothing stores are also made.''
But clients say Myers is well past the stage where she has to give her work away to gain notoriety.
Danielle Jenkins wore a Myers original to the I.C. Norcom prom last year - a white silk dress, with several slits that revealed matching shorts - and turned many heads.
``It was perfect,'' Jenkins says. ``People told me it was so original; they asked where I got it. She's someone I would recommend.''
She would eventually like to have her own clothes line and share the runway with some of her favorites, such as Donna Karan or Byron Lars.
But for now, she'll savor the success she's sewn.
``I didn't think I would have this so early,'' Myers says, ``so I'm just enjoying it.
``I guess I look at it as a blessing from God.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by Lawrence Jackson.
Audrey Myers, who already owns two fashion companies, stands in
front of a wedding she designed.
by CNB