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Michelle Alleyne, fashion authority and industry entrepreneur, has done it all. She began her impressive career at Howard University where she earned a B.S. in Fashion Merchandising and Business Management. Destined for the fashion capital, she continued to New York's famed F.I.T. where she studied Apparel Production Management. A unique blend in the industry, Michelle spent 16 years working in fashion manufacturing, owned a trendsetting NYC boutique for 5 1/2 years, has styled music videos, and t.v. commercials directed by Spike Lee, and currently teaches at Parsons The New School For Design in NYC. Her industry knowledge, extensive understanding of style, and experience in fashion affords a unique perspective on her endeavors. In addition to her teaching position at Parsons, Michelle owns this online boutique (www.mshopnyc.com), an extension of her former Downtown Manhattan Boutique, M Shop, where Eve, Robert Verdi, Michael Stipe & many other celebs would pop in to shop. She does independent consulting on fashion start-ups, manufacturing & production, and produces & promotes fashion shows/events. A project close to her heart, Michelle has worked for the past 4 years on Fashion Flipside (formerly Stores A GoGo), an annual Lower East Side outdoor fashion show and day-long event she co-created in September 2002, to revitalize local designers and boutiques, like her own, and the community as a whole that suffered in the wake of the tragedy on September 11, 2001. Showing a consistent presence in the fashion community, Michelle extends her years of experience in the elite manufacturing industry having managed production for the likes of The Limited, Ann Taylor, Express, Structure, Abercrombie & Fitch, Neiman Marcus, Broadway, Walmart, Cynthia Steffe, JC Penney's, Macy's Private Label, Casual Corner, August Max, Petite Sophiticates, Liz Claiborne, & Halston. She has also done Product Development for Maggy Boutique, Talbots Collection Division, and Walmart's Faded Glory Licensee. Her keen business acumen enables her to teach Fashion and Manufacturing Workshops nationwide to emerging designers/fashion business entrepreneurs - and she should know, for the past 5 seasons, she's been designing LaMa with Funky Lala, her own M Shop label for 8 years, MG Menswear - a collaborative collection for the last season, and has written the guide booklet "How to Manufacture/Produce Your Designs". Michelle will continue her presence providing invaluable knowledge to fashion's future by producing the Parsons' A.A.S. annual fashion show Line Debut each May, their Mid Season Preview each December, writing her column "Fashion Speaks" for Fashion Mannuscript magazine, and by designing a special T-shirt to raise proceeds for her favorite charitable organizations. |