OFW Featured Designer: Emma Erickson

Tossing back her shiny, chocolate hair, Omaha Fashion Week designer Emma Erickson takes a long sip of her green tea. The 23-year-old explains her desperate need for caffeine, as she has a long weekend ahead of her in New York. A flight to New York for a collection showing is typical in the life of this fashionista.

Born and raised in Omaha, Erickson has worked against all odds to make a fashion statement in the Midwest. Even after discouragement by her school advisers and friends, Erickson knew the life of fashion was where she belonged. Following her heart, she moved to San Francisco and enrolled as a student at the Academy of Art University.

“I didn’t know anything about designing clothes when I arrived at school; I just knew it was something I wanted to learn,” she explained.

Erickson’s only prior sewing experience was that of making tiny clothes for her dolls and stuffed animals as a child.

“My mom is a great seamstress. She always made my sister and I really cute Halloween costumes when we were little,” she said. “So she taught me a little bit, but my schooling is what really did it for me.”

After the first two grueling years of design and technical classes, learning about patterns and draping, Erickson felt like she had the hang of it.

“Designing garments is a life-long process of learning,” she said. “Now I’m at an exciting point where I can get creative and make my own pieces, but I’m still always looking at clothes in stores and wondering the processes of the finishing techniques and how designers did certain things.”

After graduating in May 2010 with a BFA in fashion design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Erickson moved back to Omaha and has been intently working on her Omaha Fashion Week collection. Consisting of 10 different pieces, her collection has taken months to put together.

Erickson described her designing methods as a creative process that always starts with a simple concept. Then she looks at photos, silhouettes, color, shapes and texts to get inspiration. Once the drawing is finished, the execution of a theme for the collection is in order – and so the sewing begins.

This past summer, Erickson was able to put these methods in action at her internship with BCBG Herve Leger in Los Angeles. Working on the infamous bandage dresses, she learned all about the designs, intricate weaving and execution.

Despite the glitz and glam of the big city, Erickson was happy to come back to Omaha. She explained the differences between Californian fashion versus Midwestern fashion. Although California is extremely trendy, she said she feels nothing compares with Omaha’s vintage style.

With this in mind, she’s excited to see what other designers have prepared for OFW. Erickson participated in the Spring Preview of OFW and said from the looks of it, there should be a lot of talented work.

Her involvement in OFW has inspired her to continue to participate for years to come. Ideally, she said she would like to make Omaha the home base for a possible future company while still showing at OFW. Before this goal, she would like to get business experience at a large company.

“I have so many goals for my career in fashion, but it’s hard to picture where I’ll be in five years because if you would have told me five years ago where I would be and what I have experienced today, I wouldn’t believe it,” she said.

Despite her success, Erickson says she keeps a level head.

“I am so fortunate to have had all the opportunities I have.”