DALLAS — Venny Etienne didn’t always see himself in fashion. It all began when he was around nineteen years old in Brooklyn, New York, and his church asked for volunteers to design a fashion show it was hosting.
“…The process of building a garment is what really piqued my interest,” Etienne said.
Etienne said he and his mom would buy blazers and deconstruct them to add new fabric.
“We did it in a very innocent way,” Etienne continued, “Like, just as a hobby of something, like oh it’s something that I can do. I was probably 19 at the time, I’m 34 now. So, it was something that I kind of discovered later on in life.”
His love for design made him leave his major of investment banking and head to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) for school.
“When I went to fashion school. I was getting all A’s, like I was always there. So, I think I was always serious about it. Even at the church fashion shows I just remember always wanting to make sure that it was great. Always wanting to make sure that I was a perfectionist with whatever I was presenting. So, I guess it was always something that I worked hard towards.”
He moved to Dallas in 2011 and attended Wade College where he received a scholarship from Fashion Group International. He says it was this scholarship that led him to where he is today. Since receiving the award, he has designed for celebrities, like Cardi B and Beyoncé, was on season 17 of the reality TV show Project Runway and started his own brand Levenity.
“Had I not gone on Project Runway to develop that skill to produce something another day, I wouldn’t have been able to produce Niecy Nash and then I wouldn’t have been able to get Beyoncé. So it’s just a chain of events… I look at it as my personal journey as if everything happens for a reason,” Etienne said. "So, I’m grateful for Project Runway. I’m grateful for FGI cause still even with that competition I gained experience with the competition that I was doing for FGI student program."
Even his degree in investment banking wasn’t a wastest. He still uses math when it comes to sizing and adjusting garments he creates. Etienne says fashion has taught him a lot.
“The main thing it has taught me is hard work. I put a lot of hard work into it. It lets me know that if I put my all into something that it will produce, you know, positive results,” he said.
Etienne continues to push towards further success with his business, Levenity.
“I think success will always be something that someone will always achieve because the minute you feel like you’ve made it, you know, you really didn’t. The minute you stop is like the minute you failed,” Etienne says.
The sports wear designer doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.