Pride, Purpose, and Designing for People Like Me

What Pride Month Means to Me as a Black Lesbian Designer and Entrepreneur

Every year when Pride Month arrives, I find myself reflecting on my journey—not just as a designer, but as a person. I am a person of color, an entrepreneur, a couture designer, and a lesbian. Those parts of my identity are not separate from my work. They are woven into every collection I create, every runway show I produce, every model I cast, and every client I serve. They have shaped the designer I am today and the designer I continue to become.

When I first started designing, one of my biggest goals was simple: I wanted to create for people like me. Not because I wanted to exclude anyone else, but because I understood what it felt like to not always see yourself reflected in fashion. I knew what it felt like to flip through magazines, watch runway shows, and rarely see people who looked like me, loved like me, or moved through the world like me. Fashion has often told people that beauty exists within a very narrow definition. I wanted to challenge that idea.

As a young designer, I often felt like I existed between worlds. I loved luxury fashion, couture, and artistic expression, but I didn't always see designers who shared my experiences. There were moments when I questioned whether there was room for someone like me in those spaces. Looking back, I realize those feelings became fuel. They pushed me to create the kind of brand I wished I had seen growing up.

I wanted to build something different. I wanted to create a space where people felt welcomed, celebrated, and seen. A space where a plus-size client could feel beautiful without apology. A space where an androgynous client could feel understood. A space where LGBTQ+ individuals could express themselves freely. A space where people of all races, backgrounds, ages, and identities could look at a runway and recognize themselves in the story being told.

That vision has become one of the foundations of my work.

Pride Month is often associated with celebration, and it absolutely should be. It is a time to celebrate love, authenticity, courage, and community. But for me, Pride is also about visibility. It is about creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be themselves. It is about reminding people that they deserve joy, beauty, opportunity, and acceptance. It is about reminding people that they do not have to shrink themselves to fit into someone else's idea of who they should be.

As a designer, I think about representation constantly. When I cast models, I think about the young person sitting in the audience who may have never seen someone who looks like them on a runway. I think about the person who has been told they are too big, too masculine, too feminine, too old, too young, or simply too different. I think about the people who have spent years feeling invisible.

I want them to know there is a place for them.

Not just in my audience.

Not just in my client list.

But on my runway, in my campaigns, and in the future of fashion itself.

As a Black lesbian designer, I know firsthand what it feels like to walk into rooms where you are the only one. I know what it feels like to wonder if your voice matters. I know what it feels like to work twice as hard to be taken seriously. Those experiences have not discouraged me—they have strengthened my purpose.

This is why I design.

This is why I continue creating.

This is why Pride Month matters to me.

Because every collection, every fashion show, and every design is an opportunity to tell someone they belong. It is an opportunity to remind people that they are worthy of being celebrated exactly as they are.

My hope during Pride Month—and every month—is that people like me feel loved. I hope they feel seen. I hope they feel bright. I hope they feel powerful. I hope they understand that who they are is not something to hide, explain, or apologize for. It is something to embrace. It is something to celebrate.

Fashion gave me a voice. Through my designs, I hope to help others find theirs.

So this Pride Month, I celebrate the dreamers, the creatives, the entrepreneurs, the artists, the young people still figuring out who they are, and the adults who fought hard to become themselves. I celebrate every person who has ever felt different and chose to keep showing up anyway.

You are seen.

You are valued.

You are loved.

And you belong.

Happy Pride Month.

— Stoi G.Founder & Creative DirectorMaison de Stoi | Stoi's Design Co. 🏳️‍🌈🤍✨