<< BackMeet Misha Beverly, Hopeful Fashion Designer to the Stars
"I am not designing to glorify others, but to glorify God," says fashion student Misha Beverly. "I feel he gave me this skill, and I am going to try and use it to help others." This 23-year-old apparel designer and missionary (who is selling a guitar pick dress to Billy Bob Thornton this November) shares her untraditional journey though fashion, life, and the space between.
A Michigan native, Beverly started to channel her creativity and design ingenuity when she moved in with her dad and step-mom at the age of 14. (Before then she was selling rubber band balls and other arts and crafts on the playground for 65 cents.)
Since both parents are legally blind, Beverly was their eyes. "I described pretty much everything I could see that they could not. I see the world differently because of living with and knowing them," she says. "He (my dad) taught me almost everything I know about music, and music is heavily used in every single one of my designs."
She started off her college career as a Business major at Central Michigan University and after only one semester realized she was serious about fashion and serious about pursuing it as a career. She hit the road in the fall of 2007, and his since called Chicago home. The windy city welcomed her with open arms and plenty of opportunities in the fashion world. For example, Beverly scored work with Kohl's, Macy's Kate Boggiano, and currently interns with Maria Pinto (Michelle Obama and Oprah are among Pinto's clientele).
You’re probably wondering where Billy Bob Thornton fits into all this. (We definitely were!) The meeting happened partly by chance, but is mostly attributed to the really cool guitar pick dress she wore to his concert. (Who knew Thornton was the lead singer of band called The Boxmasters?) Beverly befriended the band after a concert in Michigan and later hung out with them in Chicago where she officially met Thornton and he offered to buy her dress. Since she is showcasing the dress in a fashion show this month, she couldn’t sell it to him right then, but plans on selling it to him after the event.
“It wasn't until this past year when numerous people loved my dresses that I started to really think, ‘Maybe I am a true fashion designer!’ I feel like Billy Bob really set the stage for me, in terms of seeing my long term career goals not to far from reality,” Beverly says.
While the glamor, parties, and the life in fashion can be very seductive, it's important for Beverly not to lose herself or her beliefs. "For me, I know that if I do not perform my best in the industry, I know that it is not the end of the world. I have developed a sort of eternal perspective in that I am not as concerned with making things perfect,but enjoying my life, specifically, creating apparel on the way to where I am going."
- Liz Olszta
Magazine Journalism
Photographed by Maureen Peabody, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. Beverly is seen modeling her own designs.