Lost && Found

PMqn: Could you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

O'Neal: Well, My name is O'Neal Wyche 25 years old and I'm originally from Quitman, GA a small town 30mins from the FLA border. I moved to Atlanta, GA in 2001 after graduating from high school and enrolled at Bauder College for Fashion Design with a minor in Modeling. I graduated in 2003 with an Associates Degree in Fashion Design. I was awarded one of the Most Outstanding Designers and Most Likely to Succeed Award. I took an internship with Jay Reynolds (designer well known for his amazing wedding gowns and prom dresses) for 6 months in ATL. After graduating I moved to Roanoke, VA and interned for "Mill Mountain Theatre" as costume shop intern. While there I worked closely with Costume Designers on off-broadway runs of "42nd Street" and "Smokey Joe's Cafe." After 6 months I moved back to Atlanta for 2 weeks and then moved to New York City in the summer of 2003. Still in my Theatre/costume designer phase, I interviewed for a spot at "The Julliard School of Performing Arts" for the Professional Intership with costume shop. After being rejected for minimal experience, I went back to my first love "Ready-to-Wear." One of my professors in college (Mrs. Vanessa Favors - Textile and Patternmaking) told me something that I pass on till this day..." never limit yourself to one internship" so after almost a year of emailing and mailing resumes out all over NYC, humbled myself and start looking for yet another internship! Luckily, I landed a internship with Betsey Johnson and my life started to slowly transform from that day. I intern there for 6months and after, I freelanced for Betsey, designing dress and doing tech packages working under Assistant Designer. At that time I was working 2 other jobs and not really getting alot of sleep, but I was so motivated and that was all I needed to survive.



6 odd months past after I left Betsey Johnson and I worked random jobs hoping that someone would call me from all the resumes I put out there. I got a call from Pamela Thompson "Head Designer" for Betsey Johnson, that I worked closely with while my short stint there. She just landed the Head Designer's position for the pop culture contemporary brand "Heatherette." So I became her Assistant Designer and worked there for 3 years. I co-designed Heatherette young contemporary brand before I resigned. I started doing freelance, while looking for a design position. While doing freelance I started to get recognized for my graphics and prints, so I created alot for different labels including Heatherette. So for the last 2 years I've been designing and developing for many labels under my freelance group Artifacts LLC..as follows: Crown Holder Ladies (Women's Contemporary), Ladies First (Queen Latifah's Urban Young Contemporary brand), Mossimo for Target(women's denim), CAVI byDesign(women's sportswear), Faded Glory for Wal-Mart(men's and boys denim and cargo program), Express men's bottoms for Limited Brands LTD., A. Kurtz (military surplus womens and menswear specialty brand, GIII Group(Associate Designer for Guess, Tommy Hilfiger and Black Rivet men's outerwear and womens outerwear for Guess Retail)...to name a few..lol!
During all the madness, someone referred Brea Stinson a fashion stylist that worked closely with Tameka Foster and branched off on her own. I designed a graphic tee collection for her new line "BStar." while working with her, she would call me if she needed clothing made or graphic tees created and printed. so as you know word of mouth runs quickly and I started to get called randomly by people I didn't even know, that needed things done for shows, appearances..etc. I consider myself an "Inside Man" because I have the contacts for anything you need in this fashion industry...If I don't know..I could totally find out!

PMqn: Now for the finale

O'Neal:...I'm in works of partnering Artifacts LLC with 2 of my fellow collegues that own factories in India. This company will be under the LNC Apparels Ltd. umbrella www.lncapparels.com. The purpose of this venture is to design, develop and produce for start-up brands, existing brands and possibly celebrity lines. Think of it as a "one-stop-shop" consulting firm for anyone that would like to start a clothing collection.

Sorry for all of that, but honestly that was the short version..lol!

O'Neal