By Jordan Smith
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
After designing clothes for seven years and sewing together fabrics for the creations for two years, Tyree’ Lewis decided to capitalize on his skills and use the nickname he embraced at Morgan State University.
The 21-year-old fashion designer a few years ago opened the clothing line Calypso: The Label, and the modeling agency, The House of Calypso. Calypso is the name given the Morgan State University senior four years ago by his school’s modeling troupe.
For Lewis, his passion for couture drove him to start his businesses. Naturally, he would use Calypso as a trademark for both.
“I have always been interested in dressing others,” Lewis said. “I love females, everything about them: the hair, the nails, the heels, silhouette; the ability to have them looking so beautiful and seeing the joy and the confidence in their faces, walks, and pictures.”
Lewis used the names because he wanted to be considered mainstream and professional. He also wanted to appeal to multiple demographics. Establishing his businesses was difficult, said Lewis acknowledging it is still a struggle at times.
“Being able to have stable time management is one of the hardest things, as well motivating myself,” Lewis said. “Sometimes I am my only motivation.”
Moving to Baltimore from his home in Newark, New Jersey, Lewis decided to major in Applied Liberal Studies at Morgan State University so that he could build his own curriculum. Lewis said his family fully supports his ventures, although they are not interest in fashion to the level he is.
In addition to his college work, Lewis also works two full-time jobs to finance his venture. Also, he receives payment from companies and clients who use his collections in runway performances. The cost of custom garments vary depending on the requests of the clients and how much the fabric costs. Rentals range from $200-$250 per collection, he said.
Lewis could easily be described as a workaholic because he said he believes his work is never really completed. He constantly fiddles with his finished design collections and reworks some for future projects. His goal, he said, is that each of his collections can evoke the story that came to his mind when he created the line.
For example, “My House of Card collection is mainly the story of a kingdom gone bad. It goes from black to gold, which is more vibrant, into red which signifies rage and anger,” Lewis said.
“My Golden Era collection was based off ‘The Lion King.’ Very royal males and females,” he said. “My goal is to get people to feel what I felt while making the collection. To connect and to understand the story without having to explain it.”
Lewis said he often gets emotional seeing the runway performances that feature his pieces.
“When I see my clothes on the runway, I get excited,” he said. “One show I watched I actually cried because the song, the clothes, and the models sold me the story.”
Dalevin Prioleau, an audience member of the Emergence runway show, said he appreciates Lewis’s clothing.
“The clothes are usually of good quality, nice fabric and always a statement,” Prioleau said. “They usually fit the models nice [ly], show off their bod[ies] and compliment their features.”
Lewis has had his collections featured in more than 20 shows over the past year at Morgan State and at the Baltimore War Memorial. Calypso uses social media for exposure, using the Instagram search bar multiple times a day looking for opportunities for his collection and his models.
Models from various colleges in the District of Columbia and Maryland region come together to practice on Thursday nights from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The House of Calypso’s practices are held at Northwood Recreational Center.
Lewis is not of a large scale yet to pay his models, but they do receive exposure. Lewis said there is one show that he has booked for them that includes payment and his models will be paid $100 per person.
Lewis said he believes that compared to other agencies, his agency is a family. At the beginning of practice, models are asked to say one good thing, and one bad thing about their day, play a game, and then start rehearsals for upcoming performances.
Getting his models to enjoy themselves in the fashion’s fantasy is a goal, said Lewis.
“Let’s have some fun,” he tells his excited group. “As a model, you are portraying someone different so enjoy the moment and live in it, then go back to being boring.”
Model Kylon Lymon said he enjoys the experience that The House of Calypso gives him.
“I like Calypso’s practices,” said Lymon. “I feel like I’m able to meet so many new people and grow as a model. I’ve walked in a number of his clothing scenes and runway shows and it’s always a good experience from start to finish.”
With the help of his administrative assistant, Christopher Myles, Lewis works to get his models in shows on different platforms and networks with different people. His models have walked in Jersey City Fashion Week, as well as multiple shows over the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia area, he said.
As the curator, sponsor, and one of the designers of the Emergence fashion show hosted at Morgan State last February, Lewis said his goal was to give emerging black fashion designers a platform.
In a competition-like style, the crowd’s most liked designer received $1,000 towards the next collection. The fashion show has importance to Lewis because he said he wanted to give back to those around him for some time and that was the goal for the show. For Lewis, the show signified the growing visibility as something exuberant and beautiful, a humbling experience for him.
“Things make me happy because coming up as an entrepreneur there was not anyone who really gave me advice,” said Lewis. “People I looked up to were always too busy or wanted me to pay them money to offer advice.”
The message Lewis said he wanted to send to business owners interested in making their own impact is: “To all my entrepreneur’s, never get discouraged and always keep pushing. Stay humble, sometimes you will have to do things just to network, but life-long relationships are worth more than temporary money.”