I was raised in the American South. I was born in Florida, and my childhood was spent in southern Georgia and Alabama - my memories are of red clay and Spanish moss and wetting my feet in the Black Warrior River. Growing up, I turned my bookshelves into dollhouses, using everything I could find to create furniture and decorations. I have a deep love for objects and all the stories they can hold, which has led to a very long passion for antiques. In a digital world, I much prefer analog and working with my hands, being able to create tactile art. Telling stories with objects is what led me to fashion, too - creating timeless pieces with my own hands. I love to study and forecast trends but I prefer not to follow them in my own work. It’s more important to tell the right story than to tell one everyone else is hearing.
In partnership with the Fashion Design Program at Columbia College of Chicago, the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) hosts a unique fashion competition each fall in which fashion students assemble a new piece of wearable fashion using recycled materials provided by airlines.
In 2018 I was given a scarf from Talie (a boutique in O’Hare Airport) as my inspiration. In one week, I made a dress from an up-cycled international airport flag (Spain), airline seatbelts, string from airline blankets, and scrap mulberry silk.
I started with the sketching process. Once I was happy with my design, I hand-dyed the flag and embroidered the seatbelts to use as the arm and neck cuffs.
Inspired by early cosmetic ads whose eerily cheerful narrators are reminding women that they must be beautiful, I wanted to create an object that was beautiful in appearance but whose aim was to draw a smeared frown on the women who used it. So much of my work is interested in the intersection of beauty standards and perceived happiness - how do we use beauty to hide misery? I constructed the contraption and then created a short film.
Lip Service by Von Merr
Stephanie Fishwick Studio
Charlottesville, Virginia January 22, 2023 +(703)627-4204 stephaniefishwick.com
Mikaila helped us create a beautifully on-point series of mood boards to coalesce our sub-brands’ feel and style as we work towards an official launch. We needed help translating the idea and feel of a very aspirational lifestyle product, with a sense of humor and narrative arc —all through visuals on an Instagram page. Sort of a tall order! She listened to the vision and customer profile and after just one meeting was able to create an amazing catalog of imagery that captured exactly what we described. Then, she guided a seamless process to build out the Instagram account with many weeks worth of content. The result was amazing; generating a full profile and “story line” she managed all of it. Which was great because I (Stephanie) prefer to hire folks who are self reliant and able to work on their own and execute—which she did.
Mikaila is not only iconic in her own personal style and poise, but she is also gifted with intuition and empathy. A keen observer whose well-traveled eye and cultural references allow her to easily understand nuanced luxury clients like ours. I also know we didn’t tap into the full range of skills Mikaila offers. Her collage work, illustrations, interiors, and fabrication skills are also fantastic. She brings a lot to the table and we recommend her highly.
We are so lucky to have worked with her and will be picking back up where we left off with the project once our samples are photographed and we’re ready to launch.
Charlottesville, Virginia January 23, 2023
+(434)242-5850 circa.cville@gmail.com
I’d like to give you both my full and very enthusiastic recommendation for Mikaila Jasso (Von Merr) for your intern position. I co-own an antique and vintage shop in Charlottesville, Virginia. Over the years we’ve had a lot of people come and go, but Mikaila was truly one of our favorites.
In March 2020, when we thought we would have to close entirely due to Covid she steered us on a brave new course in social media and online sales. Although the physical store was closed we maintained a constant online presence resulting in a new audience and enough sales to push us through the shutdown. I’m not sure we would have made it through successfully without her fresh ideas and optimism.
Mikaila has a great eye for design and helped many of our customers in choosing the right piece for their space. Personally, she gave me the push that I needed to do some long needed design work at my own home. She even made me a little watercolor sketching of my future room to remind me of the end goal. She has fantastic personal style but is also able to see spaces through the lens of others’ taste. She has an incredible work ethic and is kind to a fault. During her time with us at Circa, Mikaila took on a lot independent projects. She chose a palette of colors for our shop walls, started a curated personalized gift service for customers, created graphics to support our monthly non-profit donation program, made sure we hung art with a precision never before seen in our shop and managed to do it all with style, wit and a lot of hard work.
I’m happy to talk in person if you have any questions.
Take care, Robin Slaats Circa, Inc
Robin SlaatsZoe McDowellSpellman Charlottesville, Virginia January 23, 2023
zoe.mcdowll@gmaill. com
I am writing to recommend Mikaila with whom I worked for two years at Circa, Inc. in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mikaila has the rare ability to recognize the best parts of a customer’s vision, extrapolate a fleshed out plan from a few selected fragments, and turn out something beautiful, all while celebrating her client’s better impulses and gently steering them away from their poorer ones. It is a wonderfully positive experience to collaborate with Mikaila, because she is wonderfully positive. She works hard, she is funny and kind, she has a strong vision and a fabulous sense of style. I wholly believe that she would be an asset to your firm in every way.
Zoe McDowell-Spellman Circa, Inc
