When Kendra Duplantier’s “Lucia” tank found its way onto the history-making seventh episode of the final season of “Insecure,” where every costume was designed by a Black woman, she was in another time zone, unable to watch the show and entirely taken by surprise.
“I was getting screenshots and text messages like, wait, whoa, what?” she told WWD, Zooming in from her home in Los Angeles. Though “Insecure” costume designer Shiona Turini had reached out to Duplantier about trying a piece from her namesake brand, there was no confirmation it would be used. But knowing people were discovering her design without her putting it in front of them, she said, “That hits different.”
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Since then, the tank donned by character Molly and styled by Turini, has seen “a whole slew of orders.” And, she said, being part of an episode filled with Black female fashion talent hit different, too.
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“Just to see the amount of talent — because, of course, a reason why I got into [fashion] was because I didn’t see a lot of me in the industry and I didn’t think there was a lot of me in the industry,” she said. “So anytime there’s a stylist or a moment that brings attention to other talent, it’s always exciting because it lets me know that I’m not alone and there are other designers out there. We are doing it, we are killing it, we are present at the table and seeing it being presented in that context and in that way was really exciting and it meant so much.”
Now, Duplantier is taking steps to scale her small-run, independent design business founded on fun and paying U.S. manufacturers well to make product on a preorder model that prevents the brand from adding to fashion’s waste issues.
To find out more about the designer, who’s set to make greater tracks in 2022 after launching her company in a pandemic-riddled 2020, WWD uncovers how the brand’s motto speaks to modern women, what Duplantier can’t do without when designing and what she’d eat if she could only have one meal for the rest of her life.
1. If Kendra Duplantier, the brand, had a motto, what would it be?
Kendra Duplantier: Be your own muse….Look to yourself for inspiration and what works for you and if you like it, go with it. If you feel good, then you’re good. That’s all that matters.
2. Walk us through a typical day in your life. And what’s your favorite part?
K.D.: Well, to be open about it, I still freelance [design] full time.
So…I have to split my time up between my side hustle and my main hustle — so I wake up early to try to get as much done for myself before I start the day on my freelance work and then I don’t take lunch, I kind of work through it because then lunch time I may go run errands for myself or answer emails or just do whatever, and then I go back and then I finish the day, get some nutrition and then I’m back working on my stuff.
My days are long and filled with balancing both for now — until I can make my side gig my main — and I usually work on that until 1 a.m., 2 a.m., depends on if I really get going then I’ll stay up way too late and start it again.…
I try to get out and go for walks, I’m doing better at that. I started this year and I’ve gotten really good at going outside, coming up for air.
3. What’s the one thing you can’t do without when designing your collections?
K.D.: Music.…I have a playlist that I actually just started building…at the top of my list right now is Joy Crookes. That’s the first one and then I have Stevie Ray Vaughan in the mornings. I listen to a lot of him, I have him on my “Rise and Grind” playlist. I create these little lists to get me in the mood and then I’ll usually post it with the collections.
4. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
K.D.: That’s funny. I just saw, was it Megan Thee Stallion? She posted something and it was a meme of the chick from “Arthur” and she has these dark circles under her eyes and I think it says, “Yes, I have time for that in my schedule” or something like that and it was so funny I sent it to my husband and I was, like, this is me all day because I’ll be, like, “Yes, I can do that and yes I can do that.” But in reality I don’t have time I’m so sorry, I overbooked.
I think my warning is like: Warning, I am excited but I may be stretching myself too thin. And warning, this may not happen in the timeline that you want it to happen in but I’m telling you now, but I really want to do it, I really want to get it done, I really want to be a part of it and I’m really excited about it.
5. If you could recreate the fashion industry, what would it look like?
K.D.: It wouldn’t be a business. Because if I had to think, that’s the one thing that I don’t like about it, is that it’s…become such a greedy little business and it’s about who can you get your stuff on, where it’s no longer about just making fun, cool stuff. Like let’s just make clothes. I would definitely change that.
And I think, with that, it would maybe eliminate a lot of the waste and the rap that we have for just being so wasteful and all the mountains and mountains of unused clothes and fabrics and over-development and all these things like that.
I think if it became something that wasn’t such a business then it would probably eliminate half — probably more than half — of the people that are actually in it because it’s not saying that they don’t enjoy it, but it’s not the same if someone told you you’re not going to make any money, would they still do it? Would they still be in it?
6. You can only eat one meal for the rest of your life — what is it?
K.D.: This is hard. I wish my husband was right here because he’d be, like, “Damn that’s a hard one” because I love to eat. One meal for my whole life? Can it be a cuisine? If it was a cuisine I know I’ve narrowed that down before. If I had to pick one cuisine it would be Italian.
One meal is tough because it would definitely be something that my mom made but like it’s soul food, down south food [Duplantier’s family hails from Texas and Louisiana] and that’s bad business if I were to eat that for the rest of my life. [But] it would be her chicken and dumplings. She actually made that for me over the holidays because I was, like, “Mama, when was the last time you made this for me?” And she does the chicken and dumplings and dirty rice and candied yams and it’s so good, corn bread, cabbage — but that’s not an everyday meal…That’s not chic and it’s definitely not going to set me up for a long life if I were to eat that every day.
7. What’s something you learned recently that you really should have already known?
K.D.: Whenever you pass things off to a factory…take notes and write down everything you pass off, no matter how big or how small. If you passed one extra button to someone say, “I passed one button on this day to this person.”
When it leaves you and gets put in someone else’s hands, just write it down. And if you can put it in email, that’s even better.
8. Describe your personal style in three words.
K.D.: Easy. Effortless. Comfortable.
Because at the moment I’ve been on the go, I’ve been wearing a lot of sneakers lately — even out — and have not been mad at it because I’m, like, “This is what I’m on right now.” I’ve been wearing a lot more trousers, I’ve been doing a lot more accessories. I don’t have earrings on right now, but I’ve been buying an earring to throw on with a hoodie and then it’s, like, I’m doing something.
I’ve definitely been giving more Sporty Spice recently. That was my Spice Girl.
9. What do you wish you could relive in your lifetime?
K.D.: College. If I could go back — when I’m speaking business only — I always say I wish I paid a little bit more attention, humbled my little self since I thought I didn’t need it, didn’t need to be there. [I would have] definitely taken advantage of opportunities that were out there, interning more, working more, just kind of getting my head into the game. I don’t regret it though, I had fun. A lot of fun.
10. What’s on your bucket list for 2022?
K.D.: I’m getting a studio, I’m bringing on…some help, expanding the [Kendra Duplantier] team and, to be honest, myself. I need to take care of myself a lot more than I have been as of late. Those are the things on my bucket list.