Who is Chelsea Grays ?
recently VOLATILE had the pleasure to interview 28-yr old fashion designer Chelsea Grays. Her passion for fashion and politics was a highlighting factor that bled through her voice for the entire conversation as she discussed her brand, the inspiration, current projects, and the her future as at Large.
Grays gets a lot of inspiration for her designs from politics and her desire to contribute to the world and raise awareness of what is going on in society. “I always kind of felt like an activist, and I always felt a connection to politics,” Grays said. “So, I just kind of noticed that was the foundation of who I am as a designer. And I feel like you definitely can see it in my aesthetic because I have this kind of utilitarian approach sometimes with some of the details. A lot of people in my family were in the military. So I feel like those kinds of details really intrigued me. I do it in an effort to make a change or raise awareness about different issues around the world.”
She was happy to discuss her past projects, which all raised awareness of different events happening in the world. “My first project ever, I focused on the Black Panther Party, and it was a mix between that and the Taliban. [I was] kind of doing research on that and then finding similarities and differences and then, how can I translate that kind of concept into clothing? And I've also focused on police brutality in 2018 when I did a Vanguard collection kind of inspired by Trayvon Martin and the struggles his family faced after his passing. And just recently with the Homage to 2020 collection, I just was kind of bringing a lot of awareness to all the different battles that happened in 2020,” Grays said.
While Grays is passionate about finding influence from politics and activism, she is also inspired by texture and art, and she enjoys adding artistic elements to her products. Grays said that she uses materials such as houndstooth and wool and likes working with natural fibers. She often uses cotton, tweeds, and woven fabrics. Grays is also motivated by art, as her mother is an artist. She is inspired by her mother, as well as other artists such as Basquiat. “I love Basquiat,” Grays said. “I'm very inspired by him but not so much because of his art but more because of his story. But I learned about him, first through his art.”
Grays’ designs convey a bold vibe through patterns, interesting use of color, and a raw, not overly polished look. “I don't want things to be so pretty, it loses the message... so I wanted to have this rusty, a bit dirty, rags to riches, almost kind of approach to it,” Grays said. Grays explained that she is currently transiting from an emerging designer to an established designer. At the moment, people can purchase her items from her website, but she is working on expanding how she sells the products. “Now we're working on buyers and getting items and creating a stock list so they're more available in different areas but right now just on the website,” Grays said.
Previously, Grays used to run her brand entirely by herself, but she has some help now that her brand is growing. “It was something that I was a bit proud of that I was able to accomplish everything by myself, but now I think that's not the best approach, and I need help as the brand is growing. So now I do have a team of two other people helping me continue to build the brand, and really kind of push forward to kind of overcome this phase,” Grays said.
Regarding New York Fashion Week, Grays does not have a set plan yet. “I feel like it can be an opportunity to really showcase my talent, as opposed to virtually. But I'm not sure how I would participate and what exactly I want to show because as you know, everything is attached to a message, so what type of message will I be relaying? So that's all kind of in the air,” Grays said.
Grays is working hard to continue becoming a more established designer and get more notoriety. With her talent, work ethic, and dedication, we do not doubt that she will continue to find success as a politically inspired fashion designer.