Fashion designer and UNM student Cardell J. McClam said New Mexico is the ideal place to create fashion.
“I like living here because it feels natural to me,” he said. “I can just observe people and create my own fashion.”
His latest designs debuted at the Powerful Movement of Educated Sisters’ “My Black Is. . .” event in honor of Black History Month on Saturday in the SUB. McClam said he put together all 14 looks featured in the show. He said it was a heavy undertaking that provided a hectic atmosphere backstage.
“I would much rather be in the audience watching than stand alone, having to do with everything backstage.”
McClam, who is originally from the Bahamas, said he has been interested in fashion since high school when he began sketching designs and producing prom apparel for his classmates. He said he used his own money to pay for supplies and didn’t charge students for his work.
“Pretty soon people just started coming up to me saying, ‘You designed that outfit, didn’t you? Can you design one for me?’” he said.
McClam said he felt called to move to New Mexico.
“A UNM representative came and talked to me after I had already decided on another school, and it was very mystic, but I felt like God told me I had to come to New Mexico,” he said.
McClam said he decided to pursue degrees in psychology and business to enhance his résumé before venturing into the professional market.
He has been a UNM student for one and a half years. McClam said he was sure he wanted to pursue a career in fashion design, but said he felt it was important to serve others through his work.
“I didn’t want to be just a superficial designer … I needed a cause,” McClam said.
Then in the summer of 2010 he learned his grandfather’s cancer had come back.
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“My grandfather always dresses so stylish, and I thought, ‘There it is — my cause!’”
McClam said he decided to use his talent to promote men’s health, specifically men’s cancer awareness. The name of his “HERC” brand is derived from his grandfather’s name, Herbert Clarke.
Later in 2010, Rayette McDonald, the president of Esteem Productions in the Bahamas, approached McClam about creating designs for her upcoming fashion show featuring full-figured women. McClam said he was reluctant to accept the job.
“I thought, ‘I don’t know about this.’ I had never made designs for full-figured women, and I wanted to promote health, which I guess showed my ignorance of the time,” he said. “Then another enlightenment happened to me, and I thought, ‘Why aren’t I doing this?’”
McClam’s team filmed interviews with women talking openly about their bodies and edited the footage into a video, which he screened at the event.
“It was extremely emotional for some women to talk about their bodies,” he said. “Some got mad or shut down, but some celebrated their curves,” McClam said. “I showed the footage at the show because I wanted to promote confidence, and I noticed many of the women kept saying, ‘It’s Cardellicious, baby,’ because my nickname is Cardellicious.”
McClam said he named his brand Cardellicious in honor of the project.
McClam said he has plans to expand both Herc and Cardellicious into full clothing lines.
“I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but everything will just happen the way it is supposed to,” McClam said.
He is planning a show with the AIDS Foundation, the date of which is to be announced.
McClam said he will exclusively create shows for nonprofit organizations for the next two years before he takes on any for-profit ventures.
“I would prefer to be influential above being a superstar,” said McClam.
You can find Cardell’s work through his Facebook pages, Cardellicious and HERC by Cardell J. McClam.
