Show Notes
Join us in celebrating Crystal Mayanja, the visionary founder of Color Coded Style, who is revolutionizing the world of fashion journalism! With a focus on the African diaspora in fashion and uplifting black individuals in the industry, Crystal’s journey is truly inspiring.
Starting with a YouTube channel to spotlight black fashion icons, Krystal’s passion has evolved into promoting sustainability in fashion, tackling crucial issues like black consumerism and supporting black-owned businesses. Last year, she organized a successful panel event at the Eaton Hotel in DC, advocating for thrift stores and sustainable styling.
Following the overwhelming response, Krystal is gearing up for a grand weekend event on April 19 – April 21, 2024, featuring our own LaTisha Winston as a panelist and Naima Dozier as a vendor.
The event is set to shine a spotlight on DMV area designers, emphasizing sustainability and amplifying black voices in fashion.
Crystal’s mission extends to freelance editing for fashion publications, conducting insightful interviews with industry leaders. Join Crystal, LaTisha and Naima for an engaging event that blend discussions on sustainability, black consumerism, workshops, clothing swaps, and captivating panel talks with other esteemed guest speakers.
Passionate about sharing knowledge and learning through journalism, Crystal invites you to connect on Instagram and explore her impactful work on her website. Join us in supporting this trailblazer as she paves the way for a more inclusive and sustainable fashion industry! 🌍💫 #FashionForChange #SustainabilityInFashion #SupportBlackDesigners #ColorCodedStyle
Learn more about Crystal and Color Coded Style:
Hosts websites:
Transcript
[00:00:00.000] – Zahiyya
Welcome to the Designers’ Plants & Coffee podcast, where we discuss how to succeed as a designer while staying true to yourself, finding peace in the process, and making money doing what we love. Subscribe on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast.
[00:00:12.450] – LaTisha
Today, we have another special guest. We’re welcoming Crystal Mayanja. Crystal is the creator of Style, established in 2022, whose mission is highlighting the fashion and style of the African diaspora because style and color are coded in our DNA. Crystal is a journalist who loves fashion, and she promotes Black people working in the industry. She created a platform to promote those that inspire her, and hopefully, will inspire her audience to support the people and brands she features. So today, welcome, Crystal.
[00:00:50.640] – Crystal
Hey, guys. Happy to be here.
[00:00:51.670] – Zahiyya
What sparked the interest to start fashion?
[00:00:54.950] – Crystal
I’ve followed fashion since I was a little kid, honestly. Looking at all the high fashion magazines, Elle, Vougue, Bizzar. Been reading them for years, literally, and just express myself through what I wear. But I didn’t work in fashion. I went to school for journalism. I went to Howard to study print journalism. My plan at first was to work for an essence, but my plan took a different turn because I loved international relations as well. I was like, Let me just go to grad school and study that. Just working, but not being fully fulfilled. I said, Okay, I love journalism. I also love fashion. Haven’t really done anything in fashion before. How am I going to get in the industry with no experience? I said, Let me start a YouTube channel and start interviewing people that I follow already that are Black in the fashion industry. Let me just start reaching out to them and see if they want to be interviewed. My first interview was with Lee Will. He’s a Black high fashion makeup. From there, it was just finding other people that I wanted to feature because I love what they did. That led me to what I’m doing now, which was totally unexpected.
[00:01:57.090] – Crystal
My second event around sustainable fashion and waste in the Black community. The second event in April coming up is also going to be another component is going to be about Black consumerism and how we are one of the biggest consumers, but a lot of that money is not going to Black-owned companies.
[00:02:13.000] – Zahiyya
What’s the sustainability part? How did that come about?
[00:02:15.980] – Crystal
Really through conversations and interviews, one of the women that I met, she’s a sustainable fashionista out of Baltimore. Her name is Caprice, Anne Jackson. She said, I should do a panel with all the people that I had interviewed so far just to get the color code style name out there more. Then I went to another event where there was a lot of creatives from the DC area there, and I met a woman named Janel. She’s a sustainable fashion style. When I met her, she started talking about sustainability more and waste and how the Black community. We don’t have a lot of thrift stores. We give a lot of our stuff, of course, to Salvation Army. That was a billion-dollar company. Part of her mission is to promote thrift stores in the Black community, but of course, also sustainability in styling. When I talked to her that first time, I remember the panel I I said, This is the panel that should happen, because it was such a great topic. I didn’t even know a lot of the things that Janel was telling me about sustainability and waste. I was like, Okay, this is something that we all should know.
[00:03:10.970] – Crystal
I wrote up a plan, a one-pager, and I talked to another friend, and she was like, You should have this at the Eton Hotel in DC. I literally went to the hotel and had a name of someone that I should talk to, and he was there. I had my one pager in my hand, gave it to him. He was like, Oh, this is great. Just planned it out from there. Caprice was on the panel, Janel was on the panel, and I got… Everybody’s from the area, but they all had something to say about their work within sustainable fashion and sustainable lifestyle. It was just really well received. There There were pop-up shops as well, so you could shop before and after. That went really well. The panelists, three of the panelists also brought some of their things in. They were selling some things as well. So literally that evening when everything was over, program manager said, Crystal, you could build a whole weekend around this. I was like, okay. Then in December of last year, I started sketching out what that weekend could possibly be like.
[00:04:08.730] – Zahiyya
The one that’s coming up in April, what are those dates again?
[00:04:11.660] – Crystal
April 19th through the 21st.
[00:04:13.540] – LaTisha
Definitely love it, and especially because of New York Fashion Week. Being from the DMV area, there’s Vishmi from Project Runway. He just literally just presented his first collection in New York Fashion Week. Having something of this nature to highlight highlight designers, especially in the DMV area, would really give a lot of substance to those designers who want to get their voice out. Also, pairing it with sustainability.
[00:04:41.080] – Zahiyya
Where do you want ColorCoder style to go within, I would say, the next five years?
[00:04:45.490] – Crystal
My original thought when I first started was to still do color, maybe be a freelance, what they call a features type of editor for magazines, fashion publications. I’m still using my brand to interview the biggest names in fashion that are Black, that are of color. But also being a brand ambassador for different brands, just to really continue to put black designers from across the diaspora in the forefront. There’s been a lot of other talk and features in Vogue and different publications, bigger publications, about black designers from across the diaspora. I thought about, okay, maybe I could be one of those main journalists. In terms of planning the second event now, this is something that I totally We had no idea that this would even happen. I just love being able to not only bring a group of people together that are going to give great information on both topics, on sustainability, but also on Black consumerism. Having an upcycling workshop. Bringing in, we’re having a styling suite. We’re having this clothing swap, so bringing in your clothes and swapping it for something else and possibly having someone there that can also mend some things if need be.
[00:05:54.610] – Crystal
Of course, the panels, the guest speaker is going to be Bridgette Artis. Then to go out and the brands, the people that are there on the panel, their businesses, whatever the case may be. Part of why I love journalism is because I’m learning and I’m also sharing because people that will watch my interviews will learn something, hopefully, and enjoy it at the same time.
[00:06:15.270] – Zahiyya
Where can people find you online?
[00:06:17.060] – Crystal
My Instagram is colorCodedStyle5, the number 5. I’m working on my website that’s coming.
[00:06:22.930] – Zahiyya
We’ll definitely link up all of the information in the show notes so you get more on our colorCodedStyle. We’ll see you next time on Designs, Plants, and Coffee. I’m Zahia from Region Design Lab.
[00:06:34.440] – Naima
Bonjour from Fearless Threads with our special guest, Crystal.
[00:06:38.730] – Crystal
All right. Thank you, guys. Take.
