Check Out Monica Leigh Rodriquez’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Monica Leigh Rodriquez. 

Hi Monica, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started out as a young artist, drawing and oil painting, and I loved going to LA and Hollywood clubs because people dressed up in such a fabulous way! I was so inspired and at the same time I realized I had a unique vision for dressing myself, and people loved it! I have been different, and It was so good to feel recognized for the creative vision I have in self expression. After this realization, I went into the fashion industry, graduating from LATTC when I was 25. I began working right away three months after graduating as an assistant designer at Rampage! Remember that company?!? I have been actively working non-stop since then for twenty-five plus years. An important memory I have from my early career was draping new dress designs for a large company. I loved this, and I didn’t realize how competitive it was and how adept I was at creating! Until a co-worker attempted to take credit for my dress drape and the owner of the company was praising him for my dress! I saw this interaction happening from across the large studio development room where we all worked. I ran across the room to the owner and promptly told him “that is My Dress”! My co-worker was fired the next day…crazy! Ugh! Since then, I have grown immensely every year in creating and directing, and guiding from an eyes wide open confident place… I excelled after that experience. I have worked at some amazing companies such as BCBG with a focus on Herve Leger, Halston, and FJ Benjamin LTD. Those are the highlights. From intensive design and product development, traveling, training, managing, and directing teams, I started my collection, Monica Leigh, in 2014 with bravado! I love detail that transcends fad and trend. I love sensual beauty and esoteric qualities! My brand is becoming recognized, and it is so good. I have had some amazing press and publicity with magazine coverage and articles. It’s a cool feeling to know people enjoy the creative vision I have. It takes some time to establish a genuine luxury brand, especially with limits to budget, but it is succeeding! In February 2021, emerging from the pandemic, I incorporated Monica Leigh SVX, sculpting vibrancy X!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has not been smooth, and I think simply being in fashion dictates a road that is chaotic and uncertain. Fashion is creative and demanding, the seasons are short, the economic and political landscape changes buying trends, which create ripple effects throughout the industry, through budgets, through design teams, through finance teams that creates absolute havoc. It’s a competitive business with sensitivities in personality across the field. The chaotic ways of trend and buying create some monstrous situations in the studio space, and I’ll leave it at that and to your imagination. Yes, Devil Wears Prada is a realistic movie, and it can be worse!

But! I love designing, I love the creativity of wrapping design around the body intricately. I love color, texture, and storytelling in mood. Creativity and continued success in it keeps me in the game!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Speaking to the creativity in my design work, I super dig the vibrant colors that bounce off metallics, the texture, and shape of flowers, the geometry that occurs in spiral patterns in nature; it is all-encompassing in the conscious and subconscious… There are times when I sketch from an internal place of the unknown; it’s from the buildup of so much form and color and life experience mixed in. Emotion flows through the placement of shape, texture, and color in designing. It comes through in a rich tapestry of detail intertwining through a new jacket, dress, or gown. As these designs appear in my mind, I am known for those the best.

I take the new sketched designs and create them myself from the beginning; draping the design, and creating a pattern. Stepping into the cutting and sewing process to make the design into an actual garment, I either do this myself or have a tailor do this. These new samples become sales samples, and editorial samples for photoshoot and PR. The designs you see on my website were all created through this process.

What do you think about happiness?
The warmth of the sun shining upon me in my day gives me a sense of belonging. Happiness for me comes from a place of self acceptance and love. Family with my husband, son, and cats in our home. Family with my sisters, close and connected. The love from my Mom and Dad’s sense of peace knowing they have built a great family that continues flowing through time with rivers of life. Genuine confidence and freedom to express personality uninhibited by the confines of culture, minding respect. And last but not least, having the freedom to command my time.

Pricing:

• $550 to $725.00 Jackets
• $400.00 to $850.00 Dresses
• $800.00 to $1200.00 gowns
• $250.00 to $450.00 Cool Layering

Contact Info:

• Website: www.monicaleigh.com
• Instagram: monicaleighsvx
• Pinterest: Monica Leigh SVX

Image Credits
Dylan Perlot Photographer
Soukena Jean Jacques
Alexandra Themm
Victoria Olona Model