Melody Eh$ani

When you buy an item, it's nice to know that the designer is as fly as the piece itself. Melody Ehsani's namesake line is an extention of herself and an outlet for all the creativity she has bottled up. There is already tons of people who are appreciating Ehsani's creativity, including celebs Eryka Badu, Rihanna, and Kelis. Three finger rings, swaroski crystal bamboo earrings (dopeness), and show stopping shoes for the girls who aren't afraid to command an audience.

What really made me interested in learning more about Ehsani was when I saw that a portion of their proceeds would go to the advancement of the education of women. I always push for education, whether it's through school or self-education, so I believe Melody Ehsani definitely has the right idea.

I personally wanted to ask Ehsani a few questions, and I was nice enough to share them with you. So lets get into Melody Ehsani, the brand and the person.

DW: What influenced you to design shoes and accessories instead of clothes?

ME: My first design job was an internship at a sneaker company, that was a big catalyst for me to go into shoes because the entire time I was designing sneakers, I was thinking about what it's stiletto counterpart would look like. I'm very selfish in my design at this stage because I usually design items that I myself would wear, and right now I'm more into very simple, clean lines when it comes to clothing and really outrageous, bold and super hero esque shoes and accessories, they're more exciting for me.

DW:Where do you draw inspiration?

ME:My inspiration comes my environment and my daily meditations. I feel like I have a different lens when it comes to viewing the world around me, because a lot of times I'll take a look at something from afar and be like "wow that's so fresh", and then Ill get up close to it and realize its not what I thought, so then I'll go home and design what I think I saw, does that make sense? What I don't like doing is looking for inspiration, I like it to come naturally and it almost always has come for me in that way.

DW:How did growing up in L.A. influence your line?

ME:Los Angeles is a very different place from the rest of the world...I was fortunate enough to start traveling at a young age, so I was able to see the contrast between the extremes of wealth and poverty and the power of television and the God of materialism that existed in my birthplace (LA) compared to for example the village I lived in in China for a few months. So, LA in short has influenced me because its one side of the spectrum, and its always provided the best sense of contrast for me in so many ways....and I learn very effectively through contrast.

DW:Who would you love to see wearing your shoe designs?

ME:Girls in the hood across the world.

DW:What made you want to contribute to the education of women?

ME:I would consider myself pretty educated (on paper)..I went to a good university, got some degrees, etc., but my highest form of education was given to me when I started to seek education of my "self", who i was, why i was put here on this planet, what my internal design was etc. When I woke up to who I was, I realized that I could achieve miracles. I think the most important thing that women can do right now is identify what their calling is, because I see too many young women having to sacrifice themselves to fit into positions that don't fit who they are, and they suffer from it as a result. There is nothing that makes me happier in the world than seeing women authentically creating positions for themselves in this world, because they know that that's what they were created to do. I know that just by virtue of me following my truth, I am inspiring this in other women. So essentially, design is what I do and its my trade, but greater than all things its how I serve....and this service component is more rewarding than selling all the shoes in the world or making the "IT" accessory item of the season.

DW:Would you consider yourself a spiritual person, and how does that play into your work?

ME:Yes, I would definitely consider myself a spiritual person. It greatly affects my work and my life because its not separate from who I am. I believe that man has two types of vision, inner vision and outer vision, and we need to sharpen and utilize both. I cant always look out into the world, because I know that this world is fleeting...so I continually practice looking within for answers and guidance. I receive information in my dreams, during meditation, etc. I feel if I didn't listen to those voices from my higher nature, I would probably take the more "comfortable" route and have a very different focus and inspiration behind my designs, inspiration that wouldn't be as authentic.

DW:What's the hardest part about creating your own line?

ME:Probably the ups and downs and consistently being in the unknown. I always feel like I'm wearing ten different hats, which can get a little tiresome.

DW:What designer's do you admire?

ME:I really love Pierre Hardy

DW:Do you feel it's important to follow the trends or go against the grain?

ME:It depends...most of the time I think its going against the grain. As I was kinda getting into earlier, this generation is really amazing because we have all these new types of people who have very specific talents and tastes, and so they have to create new positions in the world that don't exist. I see that especially in music, where there are these amazing artists who are making music that doesn't fall into one of the 4 categories we've created, so these narrow minded labels don't know how to market them because everything is so compartmentalized. Sadly there are few who are willing to be pioneers so they end up conforming to these major corporate labels and miss out on the opportunity to open the door for themselves and all those that are to come after them.

DW:What would you like Melody Ehsani to be synonymous with?

ME:Authenticity

DW:What's in store for Melody Ehsani?

ME:Everything.

Visit MelodyEhsani.com

-Doni W.