YPSILANTI, MI — It started as her mother teaching her how to draw fashion figurines in second grade. Now it’s her life’s work.
Lindsay Jenkins knows fashion. The Eastern Michigan University student’s works have appeared at fashion shows around the country, fueled by her endless creative work ethic.
“Just keep creating, stay creative, stay grounded and just keep going,” said Jenkins, a 28-year-old from Detroit now living in Ypsilanti.
Jenkins started at EMU about a decade ago, but took an eight-year pause to further develop her brand LYNZI. Last November, she received a $10,000 scholarship to further fund her fashion endeavors.
The Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund, created by the founder and chief executive officer of the fashion brand Off-White, provides support and mentorship to 60 Black or African American college students every year.
At first, Jenkins, now a senior at EMU, thought it was a joke. She remembers receiving the news at night and screaming and kicking her legs in bed.
Her case study for the scholarship was on a comparison between fashion brand Coach and online game platform Roblox and if the two did a collaboration.
A scholarship perk includes receiving a mentor from the fashion world, including guidance from an executive from the brand Fashion by Informa, she said.
Jenkins started her fashion brand LYNZI, originally known as Retell Closet, in 2015 as a high school student and developed it further during her freshman year at EMU.
The brand began with Jenkins upcycling clothes from her grandmother’s closet and “retelling the story.” Her clothes are geared towards “women that want to look bold and feminine with an edge.”
LYNZI has appeared at a number of fashion shows. What began as her first show on a church stage in high school turned into two appearances at New York Fashion Week in 2023 and 2024 and Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2024.
The chance to appear in New York Fashion Week in 2023 was “surreal,” Jenkins described, and she immediately began work on her collection.
She remembers lodging at an Airbnb in New Jersey and staying backstage during the show. She also remembers rapper GloRilla performing at the show.
High school project
Jenkins’ fashion passion runs in the family. Her mother also studied fashion at EMU, and her grandmother was a seamstress.
“My mom taught me how to draw fashion figurines when I was in the second grade and then I learned how to hand sew in my art class in third grade,” Jenkins said.
Her high school senior project at Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies involved creating two dresses from scratch.
“I just learned how to thread it on YouTube back then and I just got really comfortable with my machines,” Jenkins said.
Holly Mosher, professor of fashion marketing innovation at EMU, finds Jenkins’ fashion drive and focus “truly inspiring.”
“I really enjoy working with students, especially students like Lindsay, who’ve been so amazing in her aspirations and what she’s done with her education and really applying it into industry while she’s going to school,” Mosher said.
Mosher taught Jenkins in winter 2016 for a sewing class called Apparel Studio. She described Jenkins as “really hardworking” and “motivated.”
“She is willing to engage in every course fully,” Mosher said. “She asks great, thoughtful questions and pushes herself creatively to really make a memorable impact with her education as well as in a real-world setting, so I couldn’t be happier having her in my courses.”
“Domino effect”
Jenkins first attended EMU from 2015 to 2016 but always intended to return for a formal education on merchandising and fashion business. Her return to EMU also allowed her to receive the $10,000 scholarship.
She now wants to learn more about the business side of fashion. As Jenkins spent more time developing her brand, she “kept my eyes and ears on what networking programs are going on.”
She described meeting new people and learning more about fashion-related opportunities during her time at EMU as a “domino effect.”
“That’s how I met a lot of my fashion peers and acquaintances, I’ve gotten jobs from doing that,” Jenkins said. “I was just taking shots and shot aiming everywhere.”
She took a pause on her education because she felt she “wasn’t mature enough to handle what was there.” It was her first time living away from home and she said “it was just a lot” to live with new roommates while carrying her fashion brand.
Jenkins returned to EMU because she wanted to “stabilize” herself while building her brand. Having a fashion brand is expensive and time-consuming, she said.
Now, Jenkins enjoys her classes because it “makes me feel more intelligent, more cultured.”
Jenkins “never stopped designing” after she first left EMU, she said, even during the pandemic. She mentored high school students who took the same class as her, which inspired her to “keep on going.”
“I just love to design,” Jenkins said. “I loved to draw. I loved imagining in my mind what I wanted to make and making it and seeing it coming to fruition and then putting on a model and then watching them bring it to life.”
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