ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Photo by Ryan Strong.

Prodigy Child.

It sprang out fully formed like Athena, clad in a suit of armour, from Zeus’ skull!

How did Kansas City-based vegan footwear company Zoey Simone take the fashion community by surprise, launching with an enviable sleekness? The company’s digital presence was impeccable, the voice and story compelling, and – most impressively – the shoes could take a rightful place on the shelves of the most revered shops around the world. I sat down with founder and owner Zoey Simone Chamberlain, and she told me everything.

Zoey wore a vintage Yves Saint Laurent sweater full of painterly crimson and metallic gold swirls, which she had unearthed at an estate sale. She mused about the woman who had enjoyed the garment before her. A highly textured, graphic scarf lay neatly folded across the back of the adjacent chair. Her dark, smooth fringe and pointed bob framed her thoughtful, kind face. In a matter of minutes, her ethos for precision, artfulness, empathy, and sustainability came easily across.

She had known she would be a fashion designer since she was 10 years old. Growing up in the northland of Kansas City, little Zoey took an honors class in the 4th grade that required a year-long thesis on one topic; she chose ’70s fashion. It was a research-based class that taught the youngsters how to go to the library, use an encyclopedia, and amalgamate all their findings into a cohesive, three-paneled presentation at year’s end. Except, hers was supported by a sketchbook brimming with fashion sketches, a portable TV/VHS combo screening a runway show of Zoey and her friends wearing her mother’s clothing, and garments she had sewn from vintage patterns outside of class.

Having inherited the spatial intelligence for sewing through her mother’s side – her mother taught her the basics and her grandmother was a professional seamstress – Zoey pored through patterns, teaching herself skills beyond her years throughout the rest of grade school and middle school. Once she hit high school, family and consumer science classes were available but only offered two sewing levels, so she took Sewing I once and Sewing II six times. Her freshman summer, she qualified for a national fashion competition by Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America, which she declined in order to opt in to a six-week intensive youth summer program at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. While there, she learned how to drape a garment, which is very liberating for a designer who had only been altering pre-made patterns

previously. “It clicked!” Zoey shared; “I could envision the shapes needed to start my garments truly from scratch.”

After graduating from high school, Zoey returned to FIT from 2012 to 2014 for an associate degree in fashion design. The first year was spent in New York with fashion-designer classmates and roommates who challenged and inspired her; the second year was in Florence. “Being so close to history and art was breathtaking; I enjoyed that year so much.” A regular guest critiquer for one of her classes was none other than Massimiliano Giornetti, creative director of the luxury goods company Salvatore Ferragamo. While other students were having their garments cut up in front of them by Massimiliano due to fit or construction issues, Massimiliano praised Zoey’s abilities.

While her skills could have taken her anywhere, luckily for us she returned to Kansas City and carefully laid out a plan for the launch of Zoey Simone. At the core of her company are her non-negotiable commitments: utilizing innovative vegan materials due to her deep love of animals and designing high-quality, imaginative shoes that harken back to the Korean and Japanese brands she admires like Yuul Yie and Reike Nen. What’s more, Zoey took great care researching and, ultimately, identifying a factory in Portugal that specializes in vegan shoes and pays its workers fair wages – she has even visited it herself. There are so many brands out there, large and small, that are marketing ideals of sustainability and transparency; it is refreshing to know Zoey Simone is talking the talk and walking the walk.

To learn more, visit ZoeySimone.com and her Instagram @zoeysimone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Lapka is a champion leader in the Kansas City fashion and art communities. Her career includes stops at institutions in London and Newcastle, England and Kansas City, including: BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and Victoria & Albert Museum. She founded Rightfully Sewn, an organization creating jobs and opportunity through the business of fashion.