Meet Alece Plasencia of Blaxicana Couture
Fashion design and becoming a business owner have always been lifelong dreams, but as a Black woman in college in the 1980’s, there were very little opportunities in the fashion industry, so I decided to follow my second passion and became a college counselor to help young people to follow their dreams. In 2018, I decided it was my turn and I bought my domain, business licence, and took a trip to the LA fashion district to begin crafting my custom denim designs. It took about a year to complete the samples, logo, website, and to research how to market to creatives. In April 2019, I got my big break and was offered a spot as a vendor at a popular pool party event in Indio, California called “Vestal Village” (sponsored by Vestal Watch Company) in which I sold my first jacket to an actress by the name of Sohm Kapila. This first sell inspired me to design even more, network with brands and host my own events.
I’m a person who sees things in a matter of perspective, therefore yes it was a difficult road (still is), having $0 as a budget and no experience on marketing, however these challenges have forced my creative juices to flow by utilizing social media, You Tube, and Google as my marketing tools and collobrating with other brands to help me build my brand.
As the CEO/Fashion Designer for Blaxicana Couture, I specialize in designing one of a kind, custom denim jackets for creatives. My denim jackets focus on diversity and contain various themes in which I use appliques to embellish them and they are also fully lined with Chinese brocade fabric. Also, My clientale of creatives have the opportunity to collobrate with me virtually or in person in my design loft to create their design if they choose to or they have the option to have me create a one of a kind design for them. Some clients choose to purchase the samples right off the rack. In addition, I’m different than other start-up’s because I didn’t wait until I had a budget to host events, but rather I utilize them as an opportunity to collaborate with other brands, both big and small, and to give performing artists an opportunity to highlight themselves. Each hosted event includes sponsorship for alcohol brands/mixers, a dj, food vendors, several performances by up and coming talent and end with a fashion showcase of my entire collection featuring diverse models. I’m so greatful to the entire community who have helped me with these events and they have proven to be my biggest opportunity to network, market, and build my brand. Follow me on Instagram: @blaxicanacouture and Twitter: @blaxicanaC for updates on my next event called “Blaxicana Fest”.
Success to me is a marker that I created based purely on numbers and where I’d like my brand to go creatively. I’d like to keep full control as CEO/Fashion Designer and build a team to assist me as I grow. When I’m selling bout 3-5 jackets per day, and host an event simular to events I attended when I traveled to Ibiza, Spain and Toyko, Japan, at that point I think I’ll say “I made it”.
