Aidah Fontenot. Photograph courtesy of the designer.

What happens when a classically trained artist and photographer gets an itch for something different? She seeks out a new medium. Or at least that’s what happened in the case of Aidah Fontenot, a 26-year-old artist turned fashion designer based on Capitol Hill.

In fall 2008, Fontenot launched Aidah Collection, a clothing line that combines shapes for women of all sizes with bold colors and hand-painted accents, including her signature swirls and spirals.

“My clothes are designed for real women with real figures,” she says. Each piece is hand-crafted to flow around the body, which means there are no zippers, buttons, or clasps. Instead, the clothes are adjusted with ties or belts.

Fontenot grew up in San Francisco. By the time she was 15, her artwork had been exhibited in the San Diego Museum of Art and the Centro Cultural in Tijuana, Mexico, as well as several private venues. The next year, she began her first fashion endeavor, Aidah Designs. While studying photography and graphic design at the San Diego School for the Performing Arts and San Diego State University, she made clothing for friends and family.

What: Yosoy Fashion, women’s clothing that includes dresses, skirts, and tops. “Yo soy” is Spanish for “I am,” which Luciana says is a powerful affirmation that inspired the clothing line.

Who: Luciana Tiktin. Originally from Argentina, she was living in Miami before moving to DC two years ago when her husband, performer and visual artist Joshua Tiktin, got a job offer. Not only does she have her own clothing line, but she opened the Dekka designer showroom on U Street with Joshua last April.

Where to buy it: At the Dekka showroom (1338 U St., NW, Second Floor) and soon online at Dekkafam.com

"Talented Tenth" hoodie from The Original David line. Photo and styling by Yvonne Taylor and Lauretta McCoy.

What: The Original David, a line that seeks to “provide you with intelligent design that sparks dialogue.” It began as a local t-shirt line but now includes hoodies, scarves, and bags.

Who: Twenty-seven-year-old designer Rakiyt Zakari. She graduated from Howard University in 2003 with a degree in fashion merchandising and is currently based in Arlington. She started a women’s-wear line in 2001, and began working on The Original David in 2004.

Where to buy it: Her newly designed site, TheOriginalDavid.com.

Who is David? When Rakiyt was coming up with the concept of the clothing line, she was influenced by art, politics, and social communication. The idea behind the clothes is to take cultural differences and poke fun at them, so that they seem less offensive. Many of her t-shirts feature cartoon-like African or Asian male characters on the front, and one reads, “Product of the dark continent” in large, dark print with a black Africa-shaped cutout on a white shirt. “I wanted to do something that captured my personality, which is kind of sarcastic and a little apolitical,” she says. And why did she pick the name David? It’s the name of her eight-year-old son.

Photograph courtesy of David Eisele Sr.

What: David’s Black Label, a custom men’s clothing line that consists of sportcoats, suits, slacks, shirts, and ties.

Who: David Eisele Sr., who earned a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. After spending several years in the jewelry business, he returned to men’s fashion. Now he has his own store in Reston where he sells his clothing along with labels such as Canali and Hickey Freeman.

Where to buy it: Davelle Clothiers (davelleclothiers.com), his store in Reston Town Center.

An individual label: The decision to create his own clothing line wasn’t a quick one. David says he’d been slowly building his collection “rather quietly” and was encouraged by many of his clients to start his own line. One of the hardest parts of breaking into the industry was learning to take what the client wanted and interpreting that for each individual’s shape. Now working with clients to really understand their needs is a staple of his business model.

Maria Fyodorova.

What: Barefoot Czarina, a nature-inspired jewelry line that includes rings, earrings, necklaces, pendants, and bracelets.

Who: Maria Fyodorova, a local designer originally from Russia. She has a degree in international environmental affairs and an MBA in environmental policy and management. She divides her time between her job as an environmental consultant, working on her jewelry line, and writing for her blog on green living, Righteousrestyle.com.

Where to buy it: Maria’s Web site BarefootCzarina.com directs you to her Etsy online shop. Some pieces are also available through UnsungDesigners.com, and you can e-mail Maria directly for custom orders at maria@barefootczarina.com.

What’s in a name: Maria says the name Barefoot Czarina is a reflection of her heritage and personality. She came up with the idea from a vision she had of a queen who reflected her style and taste. “I’m kind of a hippie in terms of how I live my life,” she says. “I love gemstones and adornments. I have this idea of a queen who’s fancy and covered with jewels but is also kind of a free spirit.”

Design by Kimberly Wilson.

What: TranquiliT, a line of ecofriendly yoga tops, bottoms, and dresses for women that can be worn before and after yoga.

Who: Kimberly Wilson, who previously worked as a paralegal, launched her own yoga studio from her DC apartment in 1999. Three years later, she developed TranquiliT out of a need for clothing she could wear not only while practicing yoga but also throughout the day.

Where to buy it: TranquiliT.com and at Tranquil Space, Wilson’s yoga studios in Dupont Circle, Clarendon, and Bethesda.

Exercise in style: Wilson’s line has evolved from its early beginnings as athletic-minded clothing to more lifestyle-oriented. Her clothing also became more versatile over time—Wilson says she goes through fashion magazines to think of ways to alter everyday clothes so they fit into the yogawear-on-the-go premise behind her designs. “I’m so blessed because everything I wear is TranquiliT,” she says. “I thought, ‘If you can’t find it, why not create it?’ ”

Going green: When Wilson discovered bamboo fabric, she never looked back. The clothing line became completely ecofriendly in 2006, and even the packaging for online orders has a green twist: “We have this great ecopackaging,” Wilson says. “When people buy online, they can choose to get their products sent in 100 percent recycled shipping materials, and once it arrives you turn it inside out and it’s a canvas bag.”

What: Gigi Favela women’s footwear. The line consists of boots, pumps, and sandals made in Italy from Italian materials.
Who: Shoe designer Monica Favela George, who launched Gigi Favela in 2007. A formal proposal writer for engineering firms, George loved shoes so much that she'd sometimes go to DSW during her lunch break.

Where: Online at Endless.com or Shop.GigiFavela.com and in local stores at The Little Shoe Box in Bethesda and Treat in Alexandria.

If the shoe fits: George took classes in sculpting and color theory before starting her business, but she still needed to learn how to create a shoe. Where did she turn for help? ShoeSchool.com, of course. “It’s a week-long intensive workshop on the basics of shoe design,” she says. “They also have business and industry experience in the shoe arena so they were able to give me advice on how to go about getting my shoes manufactured.” Once she got the shoe-design part down, she focused on the business aspect of her company and worked to get her shoes into local boutiques.