Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1540272
October/November 2025 | maconmagazine.com 65 learned how to sew because I have two daughters … it was getting really expensive to pay somebody for outfits for all of us all the time, like when we have our green corn ceremonies. I'm really just self-taught, just watching people. It came pretty natural to me. For the most part, sewing is just a side hobby for me, but I really enjoy doing it. Sewing was just kind of like my therapy [during COVID]. Do you make different types of skirts for every day and for ceremonial? On my Yuchi side, we don't really wear ceremonial … Usually, it's a lot of ribbon work, like different types of ribbon work, and it's really vibrant. And if you have ever seen our ribbon dance ... There's just so many colors. That's our woman's dance, and it's such an important dance to us that you will see so many colors and so many different designs, and just everybody whips out their best clothes. What do you think is the value of hosting something that's going to lift the narrative more about what you're creating? I think it's important, because it kind of claims who we are … Just to show we're still here; we haven't gone anywhere. We're just in the everyday world adapting like everybody else. But we're also still trying to be our own person. I have a skirt that has birds on it, and it's a patchwork skirt. I'm Bird clan, so that's who I am. Jamie Rolland-Hill QUITMAN ALEXANDER What got you to where you are right now? When I was little… me and my cousins, we would be downstairs at my grandma's house and we would literally find comforters and build them and like, just be fabulous with each other. I even used to cut holes into pillowcases and sheets because, I mean, it's really technically a dress without the arm holes and the head hole. I've drawn my whole life. When I say my whole life, I used to get in trouble in school for finishing my work early and just drawing all day. It's this weird thing because when you're a kid, you don't really know what a designer is. You only know those 10 to 30 things that people tell you can be when you grow up. Either I wanted to be a cartoonist or an artist, and that's only because when they come around for those career fairs, they don't tell you can actually be a designer. But I found a way. Project Runway came along, and I was just like, "Okay, yeah. That's what I do." What else inspired your work? In high school, there was this fashion designer and she came back to her hometown to host this fashion competition at Olympia Skating Rink. I entered. That was the first time where I felt the community saw me … it was Monique Pitts-Taylor [who hosted the competition]. What would make Macon Fashion Week a success? So for me, success is knowing that so many people care about fashion and so many people still care about the city of Macon. All I hear is, "Well, why aren't you in Atlanta? Why aren't you here? Why aren't you there?" Before, my excuse was I took care of my dad, so I didn't have to go anywhere. I couldn't go anywhere. That was my best friend, you know? But, now that he's been gone for a while, I'm learning that I personally feel like I have work to do here before I can go anywhere else. Contact: slaybizdaily@gmail.com @slays_daily ABOVE Quitman Alexander