Sewn into her nature: Niyah Clarke

The day they were born, senior Niyah Clarke said she already had a fashion sense. By the time she got to seventh grade, she started making her own clothing by watching YouTube videos.

“I was like, ‘I should start making this myself’ so I did. [I don’t] know if I have an inspiration, I kind of just wanted to create something that I want to see, [something] I know would be good and different and very much like ‘I’m here’,” Clarke said.

Clarke, as a result of her fashion choices, has received a lot of mostly positive feedback from those around her.

“Some people are like ‘you look like a Roblox character and kind of weird’ or [say I look like] a Bratz doll but [it’s] mostly positive,” Clarke said. “When I went to get my senior portraits done and I had these huge black chunky boots on and this nice long purple dress. This lady who was supposed to be leaving wanted to stay and take my picture really badly because she was like ‘you just look so amazing’.”

Despite what one might view on the surface, Clarke feels that she doesn’t so much as “dress up” as choose how she feels comfortable presenting herself.

“I feel like that’s what I am rather than just dressed up all the time. It’s just what I wear, just like you wear whatever you feel comfortable in, that’s what I do. I feel like people a lot of people feel like that’s really intimidating and I don’t know why. Whatever you want to wear and being confident in it should be a good thing,” she said.

For Clarke, the creative process of making clothes goes in many directions but always ends up coming together.

“I cannot stick to one idea to save my life. I’ll cut out a certain amount of fabric and then somehow it’s changed four times and then I still end up needing more fabric constantly. It always turns out great, it just always goes through like 17 different stages first,” Clarke said.

Her favorite thing she’s made was a pajama set she ended up making with the fabric she originally bought to make a prom dress.

“I really loved it because it was rainbow and purple and bright and something I haven’t made before so I really liked it,” she said.

Clarke plans on attending the University of Massachusetts, Boston to study to become a lawyer but hopes to also develop a fashion career.

“While I am going to be a lawyer I feel like [fashion] is also a good background for me to have my own fashion brand and know how to protect my brand. I don’t want to give up on my ideas for fashion and I want to see it on other people in the world so that’s always going to be something I push for and stick with,” she said.

Overall, Clarke looks up to singer Beyonce as an inspiration for her.

“She started as a group and was able to build herself up from such a different originating place and comprise multiple things together for what she wanted in life and I like that. [Watching her perform] knowing she still struggled so much but it came together after hard work all those years and she always looks so great. Her stylist, Law Roach, is also Zendaya’s stylist, and his ideas–I would marry him in a heartbeat,” Clarke said.

Although she would like to grow in her fashion career, Clarke has no interest in stepping into the spotlight herself.

“I like seeing things come together. I couldn’t criticize and judge things on myself, [I would rather] see it on other people, knowing that they like it,” Clarke said.