fas hion d e s i g n e r
By lauren smith ford
gail chovan She’s fought for her life. She’s fought for her childrens’ lives. And now, she’s doing things the only way she knows how—her own.
It all started with an email invitation. Fashion design-
The store was thriving, so she opened a space next door to Blackmail
er Gail Chovan was going to present Aesthetic Ghosts, her Spring 2014 col-
called Vivid. She got pregnant with twins in 2004, and then, as she says,
lection. There was a date and time, but the location was “to be revealed.” It
“everything got crazy.” Her twins were born prematurely at 26 weeks in Sep-
felt exciting…and mysterious, two feelings that the chic and almost always
tember of 2005. They weighed just two pounds. They were airlifted to Texas
clad-in-black Chovan is a master of evoking to her devoted sea of followers.
Children’s Hospital and had health issues from the start, so the surgeries be-
From the West Austin moms at the local elementary where her children go
gan—heart, brain, eye. Between them, the twins had 21 different surgeries in
to school to the many interns she has had from the UT fashion design pro-
the first year of their lives. After a few weeks, the twins were diagnosed with
gram, people are fascinated by Gail Chovan.
congenital toxoplasmosis, which left her daughter (Zelda) blind and both
A week later, I was driving down East 5th Street looking for Delta Mill-
children with brain shunts.
works, a lumberyard by day and the unexpected location for tonight’s fash-
Then, just three years later, Chovan was diagnosed with breast cancer.
ion show. It was dark, but we knew we were in the right place—our path
“When I was diagnosed, I felt I could handle it because nothing compared
was illuminated by a single light, a neon sight that read FASHION SHOW.
to what my kids went through,” she says. “I am just going to face this because
With an overwhelming, but delightful smell of cedar in the air, the show be-
my kids had showed me how much they can withstand.” One of Chovan’s
gan amongst the candlelit sawmills and rusted industrial size fans. Fourteen
sisters and her mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer around the
structured looks made of open weave linen and laser-cut velvet in hues of
same time she was. She finished eight months of chemo and radiation in July
cream, grey, and maroon went down the runway. The crowd of over 300
of 2009 and had both her breasts and ovaries removed, but you will never
people rose to their feet in cheers as Chovan walked down the runway with
hear her say she beat it. “I don’t believe anyone is cancer-free. It’s just not ac-
her stylish 8-year-old son, Creed, as the grand finale to the show.
tive right now. I never celebrate a ‘cancer-versary’…I don’t give it the power.
I met up with Chovan after the show at the studio on South First Street that she shares with her husband of 15 years, neon sign artist Evan Voyles.
I only refer to it with a little c,” she says. “The most important thing to me is to keep fighting for my kids.”
It was noon, and she needed a “cronut,” a melt-in- your-mouth donut meets
After all of these challenges and the sudden death of her father, ev-
croissant, from La Patisserie next door. Breakfast for lunch, opening a bou-
erything changed for Chovan. “I thought, ‘why am I doing things I don’t
tique that only sells black, leaving a Master’s program in French Literature
want to do? Why am I worried about doing things that aren’t important
for fashion design school—Chovan knows who she is. She came to Aus-
to me?’” She knew what she had to do—find a way to spend more time
tin in 1995 and worked as the manager and buyer for Tesoros Trading
in France, the place she fell in love with on a high school trip when she
Company before opening Blackmail in the fall of 1997. “My dad gave me
was 15. So, she packed her bags and moved to Paris for the summer with
$2,000 to put down for the deposit, and Evan fronted me the money
her twins to teach design courses. “Everyone thought I was crazy…but I
to stock the store,” she remembers. “We drove all over West Texas to-
said I was going to do it, and I don’t just say shit and not do it,” she says,
gether buying black.” Blackmail first opened on South Lamar and after
taking one last bite of her cronut. “I need to be in France, I need to be
four years, moved to its current location on Congress, where Chovan and
with people that I love, who support me. I need to be doing what I like to
Voyles immediately bought the house behind it.
do…life is too short.” tribeza.com
december
2013
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