Meet Kevan Hall

Renowned Fashion Designer Kevin Hall Brings Signature Glamour to R Meyers

BY Heide Brandes    Photos by Emily Brashier

At R Meyers in Oklahoma City, world-renowned fashion designer Kevan Hall is redefining glamour in the Red Dirt state.

 

Hall, who rose to fame through his unique style voice and as the prestigious Design and Creative Director for Halston from fall 1998 to 2000, says Oklahoma City women have the sense of quality and fashion daring he admires.

“In Oklahoma City and in the south, I’ve noticed that women love color,” Hall said, pointing out the splashes of coral and teal in his spring collection at R Meyers. “I love color too. I love color, the beautiful and the unusual—colors that pop, but colors that are unexpected as well, like jade and camel.”

 

Cindi Shelby of R Meyers also saw that beauty in Hall’s designs and knew his collections would appeal to the aesthetic nature of Oklahoma City fashionistas.

“I was familiar with Kevan and knew of his work,” she said. “But I fell in love with his aesthetics. I love his look, how he evokes the glamour of the past. I knew I had to bring him to Oklahoma City.”

 

As Hall, clad in the simple elegance of grey trousers, his long dreadlocks pulled back, strolled through the R Meyers clothing store in Nichols Hills this fall, his signature looks came with him.

 

Oklahoma City—meet Kevan Hall.

 

From Child To Star

As a kid growing up in Detroit, Hall loved to sketch. He would imagine what the celebrities and Motown stars would wear on the glamorous red carpets, and he loved to draw the clothes he felt would make them shine.

 

“I didn’t know at the time that there was a career in fashion design,” Hall said. “I was 8 years old and was just drawing and having fun. My parents were very supportive and bought me art supplies and art magazines. As I got older, I learned I could have a career as a fashion designer, and that changed everything.”

Hall said the 1970s glory days of Halston were a major influence on his particular style, but so was the elegance and appeal of old Hollywood.

 

“I loved Halston, and some years later, I would become the Design and Creative Director for Halston,” said Hall.

After placing high in the Design of Tomorrow contest by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, Hall moved to Los Angeles where he perfected his designs, specializing first in sportswear, classic trousers and classic cuts.

 

“Old movies and Motown were my inspirations,” he said. “I always liked the dressy and more put together look. Think Lauren Bacall and Grace Kelly. People made effort back then, which people do not do as much today.”

 

Hall was mentored by Harriett Selwyn in Los Angeles as her assistant designer. There, Hall learned the ropes of the fashion industry.

 

“I learned how to put collections together and make it cohesive,” he said. “You have a single-minded vision. You have a look, a theme, a thread that holds everything together.”

 

The fashion world took notice. In 2002, he launched his own signature, Kevan Hall Collection with a fashion philosophy that emphasizes purity of style, incomparable tailoring and sensuously draped streamlined silhouettes. In 2001, Absolut Vodka honored Hall by showcasing his spring collection in their “Tribute to African Designers” worldwide tour.

 

Also in 2002, Hall won the 47th Annual Gold Coast Fashion Award in Chicago as “Designer of the Year.” In 2005, Hall was awarded “Stylemaker of the Year” by Life & Style Magazine for his “drop-dead glamour” as seen on the red carpet with Felicity Huffman, Virginia Madsen, Garcelle Beauvais, Debra Messing and Renee Zellweger.

His sleek eveningwear was worn by a distinguished coterie of celebrated artists, including Celine Dion, Sharon Stone, Angela Bassett, Charlize Theron, Salma Hayek and Michelle Obama.

High Couture Oklahoma City

Hall’s collection reflects the common theme he’s learned to love so much. In Hall’s spring collection, he drew inspiration from the flamboyant and cheery Capri in Italy, where he spends so much time. The colors of the town and villages combine with the stunning blue of the sea to create a flowing collection of color and timeless elegance.

 

“Think Capri in the 1970s with Jackie O,” said Hall. “This is everything. Having a vision and doing the research and having a target inspiration makes for an amazing collection.”

 

Past collections carried themes ranging from architecture to Africa in which he used Masai Mara jewelry and African mud cloth. Hall searches for authenticity in all his designs.

 

“I’m constantly scanning the world, looking for inspiration,” Hall said. “Color, water, someone I see in passing—I pull ideas from everywhere.”

In Hall’s current Spring and Fall collections, Oklahoma City shoppers will find signature “Hall touches,” like his origami folded champagne dress that rides high in the front while draping charmingly in the back.

 

Another Hall exclusive is his butterfly wing print, which also graces another Hall creation, a dress made from Gazar, which is 100 percent silk woven in a one-of-a-kind basket weave.

 

“We do something origami and Gazar for every season,” he said.

 

In Oklahoma City, R Meyers is now home to the collections of Kevan Hall, and Shelby couldn’t be happier to host the designer.

 

“His designs are so feminine, so lady like and sexy,” she said. “I love that quality of his clothes. Every piece is well thought out in a way to best enhance a woman’s body. He actually listens to women. That’s why he’s such a successful designer.”

 

To see the new Kevan Hall collection, visit R Meyers at 471 Avondale Drive, Nichols Hills or visit rmeyersokc.com.