A ten-year-old New Yorker who was
teased at school is likely making her bullies incredibly jealous these
days — because how many of them can say they've shown a collection of
clothing at New York Fashion Week?
Egypt Ufele, who goes by Ify, didn't
let those fifth-grade bullies at her Queens school keep her down, and
instead took the very thing they made fun of her for and used it to make
a name for herself in the fashion world.
'I turned negative attention into
positive attention,' she told the Today show, shortly after showing her
debut collection at Fashion Week this weekend.
Ify said that some of the other kids
would give her a hard time for her weight, explaining: 'I was bullied
and they called me all kinds of names. One time I got stabbed with a
pencil.'
Instead of wallowing and changing
herself because of their taunts, with encouragement from her mom and
grandma, she started focusing her energy on fashion
She took the word 'chubby' back — creating her own plus-size fashion line that she calls ChubiiLine (pronounced 'chubby line').
'People tell me I'm good at
fashion,' Ify said. 'Sometimes I give my models ideas, and then we agree
on it, and I end up making it.'
Ify's been doing the work all along and, according to her grandma Nellie Rembert, takes the process very seriously.
First, the fifth grader started
sewing clothes for her dolls by hand. Then, she graduated to grandma's
sewing machine, sketching and designing clothes for kids and adults.
'She comes out
of school, goes straight into homework, and when other kids are out
playing, she's either cutting patterns or she's creating new ideas,' her
mom, Dr. Reba Perry, told NY1.
The results — an
African-inspired collection packed with bold hues, tribal prints, and
shapes that accommodate women and girls of all sizes — have earned her
attention from anti-bullying groups and fashion lovers.
She debuted her collection as part
of Full Blossom Magazine's 'Face the Sweet' showcase, sending several
grown women down the runway in a range of designs.
Though
there have been other children to show collections at Fashion Week in
the past, Ify is the only one to have dressed plus-size women.
She even helped them get ready backstage, tying them up and making sure they were styled perfectly.
'Being a designer and being at fashion shows are really exciting because
you get a lot of attention, and a lot of people ask you what inspires
you,' she said.
