Scenes from Makai’s Birthday shoot at the CNTR venue in downtown Richmond
2020 was a year of chaos, the pandemic was in its prime and most people were stuck in their houses. In Suffolk Virginia, 13-year-old Makai Gillis utilized this time to pick up a new creative hobby.
“I was bored,” Makai said. “Then I saw clothes I wanted on Instagram, and I was like, ‘Well, I can make it.’”
Makai Gillis, a sophomore Fashion Design student at VCU has big aspirations and a thirst for art. Her story is a testament to what it means to be passionate about creating, and she promotes something we could all learn from: hard work.
Slowly Makai’s pastime transformed into a passion. “It was just like a challenge for myself to get off my phone [while] I was in the house all day,” Makai said.
“I needed something to do. Then once I started doing it, I liked it, but I realized it was a lot of work,” Makai said. “I started appreciating it more, like appreciating the clothes I made and what I did because it took time.”
Makai is very thankful for her beginnings in fashion and credits much of her success to her mother Catrice. “My mom is a very significant person in my career right now,” she said. “She’s been pushing me from the start. She’s the person who convinced me to go to VCU for fashion design.”
In her senior year of high school, Makai was set on becoming an engineer or pilot. It took some convincing from her mother for the designer to realize she needed to study something she truly loved.
“I was committed to engineering for two weeks. Afterward, she sat me down — she was like, ‘No, you need to go for fashion. You need to push to pursue what you want to do,’” Makai said.
With her mother’s words in mind, Makai graduated high school at 16 and began her freshman year of college as a Fashion Merchandising major.
“There was a class called Introduction to Fashion, and it wasn’t bad,” she said. “It’s not like I didn’t enjoy the class, we talked about the jobs in the industry you could get with [the] degree. And I was just like, ‘No, I want to create. I want to sew.’”
Fabric Makai cut to create a shirt one late night in the studio. Photo courtesy of Makai Gillis.
This realization inspired Makai to honor her true desire and fulfill her purpose as a fashion designer. “Since I already knew how to sew, [I thought] it would be good to learn the business side,” she said. “I’m minoring in Fashion Merch now, but I knew merchandising wasn’t for me, so I switched [my major] to design.”
Switching to Fashion Design took a lot of work. Makai shares that she had to take a summer course in Art Foundation after her first semester to be qualified as a Fashion Design student starting her sophomore year.
Thankfully, she made a great connection while transitioning: LA, a VCU student photographer. “I’m so glad I met her because LA was the person who allowed me to do The Black Runway show,” she said.
The Blck Runway show was Makai’s first major project as a fashion designer. She expressed that this essentially got the ball rolling in her blooming career. “I’m so grateful to have done that show because it was what put my name out there,” she said. “It started with The Blck Runway show and it’s been shows ever since then.”
“I just want to let everybody see my process,” she said. The process for Makai requires plenty of precision. With complex pieces like her rose garment featured in the Foster Beauty Fashion Show, the young designer makes sure that each of her designs tells a story.
Creative Pieces featured in The Blck Runway Show include a variation of Makai’s rose piece. Photo courtesy of Arrick Wilson.
“I took apart real rose petals, and then I sewed together one big rose petal, and it represented dying love,” said Makai. However, that is not the only meaning behind the design. Makai shared that as a tribute to the theme of black beauty, the piece is also a metaphor for the concrete rose and how black culture was able to emerge from nothing.
To kick off the semester and celebrate her entry into womanhood, Makai produced a birthday show that also tells a story. “[It’s] a time stamp in my designer process, so I can look back at the show and be like, okay, when I was 18, these were my designs [and] this was my skill,” she said.
Models pose and display three of five pieces from Makai’s birthday show collection.
The Makai Kamil Collections show was hosted on Sep. 21 at the CNTR creative space in downtown Richmond and featured a 5-set selection. More pieces like these will be sold on her upcoming website.
“It’s an exhibit, not a runway show so [it was] a little less work. Doing all the planning and figuring out the models and fittings is [a] tedious process,” said Makai when asked about what goes on behind the scenes.
The show was a major success. Not only is Makai a great creative director, but she is also a pleasure to work with. Her illuminating and enthusiastic attitude lights up any creative space, and the faces of her designs were more than grateful for the opportunity to promote her work.
“Even in the small amount of time that I’ve known her, I can say she’s very aspirational. She has so much going for her. The fact that today’s her 18th birthday, [and] she made this whole collection when she was 17 is astounding,” said Louis Freeman, a VCU student model.
“I tell her every day, she’s such an inspiration. Her creativity and drive is so advanced,” said Jordan Kierra, a friend and model of Makai’s.
Makai’s radiant energy and love for fashion rubs off on everyone around her. “Every time I come around her, I just feel better,” said Jordan Hall, a model and long-time friend of Makai’s. The designer’s work ethic lands her as one of the most inspirational and hardworking people he knows.
The birthday showcase is only the beginning for Makai. She hopes to release a runway show sometime next year and take more time to enhance her abilities. When asked what fashion means to her, she stated, “It’s really like a creative source for me: a testament to hard work [and] craft. I love building and feel like I can build with fashion.”
A couple of Makai’s most popular pieces on a clothing rack at her birthday showcase.
Photography by Kobi McCray