Her space was littered with hard work, fabrics set out on the kitchen counter all cut into different shapes and sizes, scissors sat looking lonely for their owner’s fingers. After a year of back-and-forth reaching out to the young Chicago designer, we were finally able to find a time the two of us could meet up and talk about her work.
Overalls.
As simple as the concept may seem, Sheila Rashid has reinvented the way overalls will be worn in fashion for many years to come. Her work is direct and purposeful, each stitch being sewn with great thought placed behind it.
Fresh in from a Vogue panel in New York, Shelia sat down to talk about how she started her career in fashion and the direction her overalls have taken since then.
Rashid’s career as a designer started with her painting on T-shirts and on the backs of hoodies.
“I don’t know that was a form of art I was into, I was just inspired by BBC and IceCream and umm Bape and all that stuff,” she said.
Paintings on the backs of shirts and hoodies would only be the beginning of Rashid’s entrance into the world of streetwear. Her desire to continue her art in the form of fashion led her to buy her first portable sewing machine, on which she would start the manifestation of what is now her very own line of overalls.
Self-Made. If there was a word (or two?) to describe Rashid, that would be it. The young designer lets her work speak for itself.
“Yeaa overalls” Rashid said glancing down and letting out a soft laugh.
“I started making them like maybe 4 or 5 years ago?…Maybe it was 3 years. But I remember it was someone that had suggested making some and I wound up making them a pair of drop crotch overalls. So when I made the first pair, that’s where it just took flight from there.”
Little did she know, years after making her first pair, the Chicago Hip Hop artist of the moment, Chance the Rapper would be waltzing down the red carpet at the 2016 VMAs in a pair overalls that she crafted.
“It kinda happened because of Whitney Middleton; she’s a local stylist in Chicago and she kinda connected the dots because I already spoke with Chance on direct and he been wanting a pair but I just never got the opportunity to get them to him.”
Rashid went on with humble enthusiasm telling me what it was like to sit and watch her own art be represented on the red carpet.
“I think she did mention that he could possibly be wearing them for the VMAS, but I didn’t get my hopes up high.”
Rashid had no idea until the day of the VMAS that the rising Rap star would be wearing them. It was only then that she give into the feeling of intensifying excitement. Being that Rashid doesn’t have cable, she found herself over at a friend of hers’ place so that she could watch the moment, her moment, on TV.
“I wanted to see the overalls on TV myself” she said.
Although many may attest her growing popularity to the rapper himself, Rashid’s work is more than a 15 second of fame flash on the television.
The fashion world for years has struggled opening up to diversity, on every aspect from models to stylists to designers. However, the stone age of fashion is no more, and with that a wave of new faces is ushering in a different era. Rashid is one of them.
“I just do my own thing, I’m really independent. For me personally I let my work speak for me instead of um…putting my race out there first. I’d rather people look at my art first, because that’s how I look at fashion: as art.”
Despite her increasing popularity in the fashion scene, Rashid has kept a humble heart throughout her growth. “I’ve been doing so well…I’ve been doing good here” she said quickly correcting herself from growing any sort of ego. Humble as she may be, Shelia Rashid is out to make waves in her city, and with her art, she has let nothing stop her from reaching her goals.
“If you can make a wave in Chicago, you can make a wave anywhere,” she said laughing to herself, and it is no doubt she will.
