Designer Background
Joelle Meaghan was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Textiles from NC State University's College of Textiles, and a Masters of Art in Fashion Design from Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta (SCAD). Joelle always had a penchant for creating art, as she was known to carry a sketch pad with her everywhere she went as a child. Her love of art later turned to the art of fashion, as she took a class in sewing while in high school.
Throughout her college years at NC State University, Joelle made fashion collections that she designed, created the patterns, sourced the fabrics, sewed, and hand-tailored on each model that she sent down the runway in the university's annual fashion competitions. There she earned a track record of winning the First Place and Audience Favorite awards, 3 consecutive years in a row.
The accolades she received gave her the confidence to seriously pursue a fashion design career--specifically in womenswear. During her junior year in college Joelle interned under designer Tracy Reese in New York. Her duties involved supporting the design team, running errands around the Garment District and assisting backstage at New York Fashion Week shows. She was able to gain an up-close and personal look at the day-to-day tasks that come with running a fashion brand and knew that she would one day start a womenswear brand of her own. Towards the end of her undergraduate years at NCSU, she got the opportunity to study fashion illustration and merchandising at the Lorenzo de Medici Institute in Florence, Italy.
After a stint in retail sales at the brands of J. Crew and Nordstrom, Joelle went on to SCAD-Atlanta to obtain her Masters degree in Fashion Design. Obtaining her graduate degree enabled her to hone her skills and take additional internships at Spanx where she learned the art of fashion retail merchandising; and at the family-run boutique of Mashburn, where she dove into the world of Technical Design for men's suiting and made-to-measure shirting. After graduating from SCAD-Atlanta, Joelle secured a full-time role in Technical Design at Athleta, in San Francisco, California, where she sharpened her skills in fit and construction. After 3 years, she transitioned to Creative Design, getting back to her first love of ideating and experiencing her sketches come to life. Joelle gained an immense amount of experience in the craft of fitting garments during her time at Athleta. She also had the pleasure of having designed virtually all women's product categories, from dresses to outerwear at the iconic brand.
Across her tenure in the fashion industry, the lack of diversity in the rooms she was in, and how that lack often contributed to creating products for only one type of consumer was evident. After about a year of research, design, and contemplation, she launched JOELLE MEAGHAN to help fill the gap in the marketplace for womenswear brands catering to curvy and plus sized women.
JOELLE MEAGHAN is meticulously crafted at a Black-owned factory in Brooklyn, NY to ensure the highest quality standards in manufacturing, and adherence to labor laws.
Connect with Joelle on Instagram here.