Jess Boakye merges fashion with cultural pride

For Jess Boakye, her childhood was an invariable mix of a typical African-American experience and a traditional Ghanaian upbringing. Born and raised in New Jersey, in the United States, Boakye always felt proud of her black skin and her Ghanaian heritage. Traversing this path all throughout her life, in high school Boakye became the president of the African Heritage Club. Wanting to leave her mark on the predominantly white school, she decided to create a line of T-shirts which would honour the diasporic faces of her organisation.

“I felt like the club was just taken as a joke, and people who weren’t in it and weren’t people of colour, were just taking us a little too lightly,” she explained. “So I vowed that in my senior year, which was 2017-2018, I would try to leave my mark on the club.”

Centring the concept of being seen as a group of unique and diverse students ready to make a difference, Boakye began the tug of war to get her design created. Though her first design was rejected by the school for the radical inclusion of the Black Power fist, her next design conveyed the same strong message.

“The original design that I had, [featured] a quote on the back about black pride by Taryn Finley, and then the front said ‘for the culture’, and then the sleeves consisted of 16 African and Caribbean flags that were members of the club. It begins with Ghana and Jamaica because my best friend, who’s Jamaican, was the one that was encouraging me.”

Getting rave reviews for both the design and Boakye’s tireless efforts in getting it made, she decided to carry her project with her to Temple University in the fall of 2018. There, she got her first order across the pond in the United Kingdom and landed Zaire Wade, son of retired basketball star Dwyane Wade, as an ambassador.

While her business and her new major in risk management were both flourishing, Boakye felt uneasy.

“I felt like I was kind of stagnant. The original design that I had, it was a shirt, it was a hoodie, it came in different colours but it still was just the same thing and the same message. I felt like if I did something more, I could bring in a different group, I could reach out to more people.”

After the devastating effects of the global pandemic waned, Boakye shifted her focus and introduced ‘Jess For The Culture’ varsity jackets. Starting with a design inspired by Ghana, she expressed how this rebrand reignited the passion she felt during her early days in 2017.

“I have noticed more of an appeal for the varsity jackets. It kind of feels how it did when I had my first design where I was getting a lot of people because they felt themselves represented when they saw all the flags listed.”

She continued, “My brand has always been really focused on people that were African and Caribbean. But I know some people don’t associate themselves with being black, they’re African and so on, and I have all three groups represented.”

JAMAICA ENTERS THE CHATS

With over a year since the relaunch of Jess For The Culture, Boakye believed she had experienced the peak of cultural pride, that is until Jamaica entered the chat.

In May, a post featuring Boakye’s Jamaica-inspired varsity jacket went viral on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter). Despite not being a regular user of the platform and not personally witnessing the interactions, she found it believable because of the strong presence of her Jamaican followers on other platforms.

“My most popular ones are my first – the Ghana one–and then before Jamaica came into the picture it was Haiti; and I was really like ‘wow, Haitians go hard for their culture’. But as soon as Jamaica entered into the conversation, Haitians are looking a little less,” she trailed off laughing.

Though there have been criticisms about specific aspects of the jacket, she says in all her designs she tries to incorporate the feedback of the affected group.

“With Jamaica, I know a lot of people were against having Kingston on it, ‘cause they gave me an earful. But that’s the direction I went in. I did it because it was the capital. Then I thought the national heroes for the lining and then I remember looking up some other facts because I always try to do my research.”

Pulling a quote from Tinga Stewart’s Nuh Wey Nuh Betta Dan Yaad, Boakye pulled on the knowledge of her audience to get the correct spelling and accurate details.

“I was hoping that people that were from Jamaica would get and appreciate that. I was like ‘what if nobody even really cares about the Doctor bird’ so I was weary but I said I would just do it and those who like it, like it.”

While there have been murmurs about not being able to customise the piece for different weather and design preferences, Boakye says at present, she is simply unable to meet those needs.

“I definitely would, but what I wish was understood is that I’m a small business. If I had the funds, means, and resources, I definitely would have different options available because I think it’s so cool to give people a variety of choices,” she explained.

With 15 designs and counting, this designer says she is planning on creating a piece for every flag that was represented on her first design.

“This has become my passion, even though I have my actual career,” she said referring to her degree in risk management insurance. “This has become my five to nine, while I do my nine to five.”

She added, “I hope that people leave with a sense of pride, just feeling like they’re able to honour and celebrate their culture through fashion.”

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com