ANTHONY OFFIAH (HEAVEN CONCEALED)

At Gallatin, Anthony is concentrating in The Techniques in Fashion Design, Aesthetics, and Business Administration. He says, “I want to investigate the skills and practices used in fashion design and how that correlates to aesthetics in terms of fashion as an extension of art, and how to run a business which sums up into having a successful fashion company.”

Anthony’s brand is called Heaven Concealed. He is the founder, designer, and creative director of the brand currently. Heaven is meant to represent systems of authority or expectations in fashion or society and Concealed is meant to represent what fashion could look like if we embraced freedom in fashion. He wants his brand to embody what fashion can look like without the watching eye.

At Renewal: The Gallatin Fashion Show, Anthony debuted his frst collection for Heaven Concealed. The collection was called Esoteric, consisting of nine unisex looks with a color palette of red, white, gold, silver, and bronze. Esoteric was designed “to magnify the aspect of fashion where people use clothing to express themselves and how this form of expression can manifest in a way that is costumey or exaggerated.” His goal with this collection was to inspire people to dress however they feel on occasion rather than only dress functionally. In conjunction with the show’s theme renewal, Esoteric represents how we can change fashion to resemble the future of fashion — a future of fashion if there wasn’t so

Heaven Concealed will be releasing collections seasonally from now on. Currently, they aren’t selling, but soon they will be selling one-of-a- kind pieces. Anthony’s future goal for the brand is to make made-to-wear and bespoke fashion. He says, “I want to make clothes that I want to wear. I want to make clothes that I don’t see. I want to provide the statement pieces that people want in their wardrobe, moreso high-end. It’s going to exist in the realm of luxury but incorporate streetwear elements.” Some of his inspiration comes from Virgil Abloh for Of-White and Kim Jones for Dior menswear; their clothing can be worn in everyday attire, but they also have the same quality and cut of a luxury garment. which inspire him to create his own ideas. Then when he’s sketching, he looks into his document where he keeps these inspiration pictures and he conceptualizes an outft. After that, he sources textiles and he starts sewing the designs. “During Covid-19, one of my teachers gave me tips on fashion design. Something she said that

In terms of his creative process, Anthony says that he typically starts by screenshotting things that he likes on social media

I constantly think about is ‘designers have to have patience.’ It’s a passion of love, but it’s very hard work, and sometimes you need to take breaks and then approach it from a diferent angle. You just need to maintain optimism and trust the process,” Anthony says.

“When you’re making something – to get philosophical – it’s such a crazy experience because it’s a bunch of stuf that you’re turning into other stuf. So it’s easy to doubt that the vision won’t come to life, but when it does, it’s surreal. Watching my brand and collection debut at the Gallatin Fashion Show was like ‘wow.’ ”