Local Fashion Designer Deanna Collins Allevato to be Featured at New York Fashion Week
By Julie Perine on February 11, 2022 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
Running Feb. 11-16, New York Fashion Week Fall 2022 will feature dozens of icon designers including Michael Kors, Coach, Tom Ford, Dion Lee and according to Vogue - "a host of new names to know." Included is Deanna Collins Allevato of Clarksburg. .jpg)
She will showcase her "Little Black Designs" line - an array of pieces that mesh simplicity with style. Crafted of matte jersey, the fashions are in basic black which, according to Allevato, creates a clean slate, allowing the wearer to add a pop of her color of choice. She believes in the three Cs - classic, comfort and complementary and in creating versatile pieces which can go from the beach to the office or even a night out.
"I have all kinds of styles from a simple tank dress to a strapless long dress with a side slit and crystal beads," she said. "I have a basic crew neck short-sleeve dress that looks like a shirt and spaghetti strap long, flowy dresses and the baddest jumpsuits - all with pockets."
Seeing her styles in the Fashion Week lineup - and her face on a Fashion Week billboard - is all a dream come true. It's a little sureal and she admit that her emotional high is accompanied with some anxiety.
Allevato's passion for fashion is a lifelong journey. She said her first muses were her Barbies and her female role models - her mom and grandmothers.
"I remember just being fascinated with their wardrobes. And when I looked at their old pictures, I thought they looked so glamorous," she said. "My mom was very classy with her fashion choices of the '70s. I looked at her shift dresses and sheath dresses and thought - gosh, those are pretty."
While attending Liberty High School in the late '80s, she worked at Ups & Downs at Meadowbrook Mall, knowing fashion would be her life. In 1993, she graduated from West Virginia University's textiles, design and fashion merchandising program and eventually worked under California fashion designer Leon Max in Miami. While living in Floriday, she had also worked in professional makeup, another longtime passion.
After returning to her West Virginia hometown, she established her "Blaq" clothing line as well as her own boutique in downtown Clarksburg. It was about that time that she met Cathy Goings, which opened yet another door.
"I first met Dee right after I opened Wicked Sisters clothing boutique in 2004. After we got up and running, she approached me about her merchandise and we did a showing at the store with few of her pieces and carried her line for a while," Goings said. "Her pieces were at the time very basic and of high quality. They were timeless designs and I felt like they were the perfect pieces for our boutique."
For the past five years, she has worked with seamstress Missy Tyler.
"She's incredible. She could sew blindfolded," Allevato said. "She's sews and I'm the visionary."
In addition to Little Black Designs, the duo has ventured into vintage and embroidery work, some pieces available on Etsy.com or via trunk sales.
In most recent years, Allevato said she has been on an unscheduled sabatical due to personal tragedies which overtook her. Included was the 2020 death of her husband and since then, both of her beloved dogs. It's strange, Allevato said, to experience the lowest of lows and highest of highs simultaneously.
The opportunity to be featured at Fashion Week essentially fell into her lap, Allevato said.
"My model friend Jennifer Childers who models on my Web site belongs to a group of models out of New York and a post came through from the director of this production company and she said they had some COVID cancellations and there were a couple of spots open for new designers. I read the post and literally typed, 
"Little Black Designs.com." It wasn't long before she was contacted. She still cannot believe it happened. And she plans to make her state and hometown proud.
"Little Black Designs.com." It wasn't long before she was contacted. She still cannot believe it happened. And she plans to make her state and hometown proud.
"I want to show the world that we aren't all barefoot and pregnant here in West Virginia," she said. "We have some very fashionable women here."
One of her ensembles will even feature a nod to the WVU Mountaineers.
"I have side drawstring pants with a pullover hoodie, fancy - beaded with colored stones," she said.
All pieces, of course, will feature black.
"Everyone can wear black, no matter if they are short or tall, have short or long hair; regardless of their skin or size," she said. "And this fabric, this beautiful blend of rayon and polyester stands the test of time and launders and packs beautifully."
Allevato and Goings have remained friends throughout the years and Goings has a handful of the designer's early pieces in her wardrobe yet today; pants and layering staples that have withstood the years and the styles.
Goings said she couldn't be happier for Allevato.
"When she was approached by Fashion Week to be on the runway, I thought 'my goodness, that is the break every designer would ever hope to happen in their lives.' And quite frankly, I wasn't surprised. I felt like it was a matter of time before somebody discovered her," Goings said. "Being here in West Virginia, I don't know that we get a lot of exposure, but the fact that she got discovered and now going to New York, I can foresee her being on the runways in Milan - going nationally and internationally."
In the near future, Wicked Sisters will be carrying some of the pieces featured this week on the NYC runway.
Now that Allevato will be able to check Fashion Week off her list, she has another goal, inspired by some of her early memories of the fashion industry.
"Morgantown and Uniontown used to be one of the biggest manufacturing hubs - besides New York - in the U.S.," she said. "I'd like to get grant money, get some industrial sewing machines and train some women in a dying industry."
Follow Fashion Week coverage at fashionweekonline.com. Visit Little Black Designs HERE.
