Felisha Noel is forever moved to story-tell through womanhood experiences. Her love for Grenada lives within Fe Noel; she also admires collaborating with fellow designers and creatives. Noel has found collaboration to be spiritually healing just as praying among likeminded people.

What about your Grenadian heritage amplifies Fe Noel’s cultural values?

Oh, wow. My Grenadian heritage is a mixture of things and that is why I like to say I am a mixture of different things. There is something very special about Grenada. It is a quaint island. We are small but mighty. The people there are super family-oriented. Everything is about togetherness and we celebrate together but what makes it even more special is our pride.

People are happy to say they are from Grenada. They wear it on their sleeve. It is a certain pride that comes with being from that island and probably other islands too, but I’m from Grenada. My family came here, I am a first-generation American. Everyone always wanted to go back home because it was such a special and vibrant island.

There are two types of luxury on the island. There is a luxury where you can stay at a high-end resort filled with really beautiful interior. And then the other token of that is nature, the greenery, the lushness, and it is very quaint and untouched. And that is what I love about my Grenadian heritage. I am made up of both. I can enjoy both.

How has the beauty of your heritage and Fe Noel stimulated your mind even at the face of challenges with financial resources?

I had come from, really like, grassroot beginnings, right? My grandmother raised 10 children on her own and sent them to America. And there are stories behind that. She worked really hard to support her family. She was a seamstress, she was a teacher, she was a comedian. She worked all these jobs to support them. She would make their clothes. And that is what I come from. It is about using what you have to create a better life for yourself. Using your resources, thinking about what I can do with what I have and where I am. And that is something that has been instilled in me forever.

I learned the concept that you can create the life that you want to live. It will take a lot of work, it may be painful, and it is a long road. But you can absolutely create something from nothing, you absolutely can. Nothing is relative, think about what nothing means. You may not have physical money. I was not born into money but I have used my natural talents.

For instance, you sell cocoa which grows out of the ground to make a life for yourself. I have to remind myself, ‘Fe, use what you have or you can use what you have to take you to the next step.’

How have you been able to remove the need for monetary gains to focus on aligning your peace and happiness with your passion?

It is so hard because when you have a small brand; you are always thinking about resources. You are always like, I have to be creative because I do not have the financial resources that I need. It is very hard to ignore. So I will not mislead anyone as if it is not challenging. It is something that is strenuous when you do not have the financial backing that you need to move forward. So, you have to become super creative and dig deep. CFDA has been able to provide stepping stones as I reach for the next level.

Why are you driven to help women embrace their femininity? How is Fe Noel empowering women to pursue self-awareness by pouring love into their body, mind, and spirit?

It is important for the world around us to counter the toxic messaging we have been conditioned to even as little girls. I need to tell women, ‘please fall in love  with yourself, please take care of yourself, please know that you deserve the world.’ And that is what Fe Noel does. Grenada is just effortlessly untouched and that is my goal when I design for Fe Noel. I want someone to put on the brand effortlessly and it instantly transforms them.

I make robes and other flowy pieces because I want women to feel good. I want to make them feel powerful. I want it to make them feel worthy. And I think so many women are either sacrificing or not feeling good enough or not feeling appreciated. I think that it is important for that to be my stepping stone in my talking points because I’m a woman. I know first-hand what happens when you do not pay attention to yourself, when you do not pour back into yourself. You are no good for anybody if you do not make sure you are good at first.

I meet women who are set in knowing ‘I have to be good. I have to make sure I am good so that I can then have all that I need to pour into someone else.’ And that is what Fe Noel at its core is about. How do I give women the tools to feel good and express themselves with my storytelling?

In what ways do Fe Noel incorporate morals gained from your grandmother and mother?

Throughout my entire storyline, I have held those morals dear to my heart. I am a person that takes what I need and I leave what does not apply. So the morals that I am like ‘this can be a great foundation for how I live my life,’ I take that. When their way of thinking does not work for me as I continue to live in this modern world, I leave it or I put my twist on it as long as I have foundation. One of the morals that my grandmother lives by is, you can use what you have. Another moral is that you always have to either have the courage to change something or the wisdom to accept it as it is.

Do you believe in collaborating with women who are creatives, designers, and illustrators? If so, what alternative perspectives have you gained from other women?

I love collaboration. I love the idea of just minds coming together and making something better. And when minds come together, it is always where, where two or more are gathered. You know, they say that for prayer or two or more are gathered, that is prayer. And I believe the same thing applies with creativity, only good things can come from that. I have collaborated with many women; some who I have just spoken to on the phone and we made some beautiful things together.

I worked with Harmonia Rosales, and I got to meet her and just see how she works. And it was so magical. And then Christina Martinez to name a few. I believe in collaborating with women because we each have a different story and bringing them together makes powerful stories. I think that every time I create with someone, my world becomes bigger and theirs become bigger as we are inviting more people in and we are touching more people. Collaboration is an important part for the trajectory of my career and how I continue to play in the fashion space also.

Has failure intimated you from creating the life you want for yourself? Has your choices always made you wiser while navigating the fashion world?

I get short term intimidation because I always have to pull myself out of it. I was fearful before I did my recent show; I was just trying every way to cancel the show. The people around me were like, ‘you have to push through, you have to push forward. People need to see what you’re creating. They need to hear you. They need to see what’s possible.

It can be very intimidating on a daily basis because there is so much art out here. There are so many different designers. You question yourself sometimes and you ask ‘What makes me different? How do I continue to be different? How do I stand out from what everybody else is doing? How do I create something new?’ And that is hard within itself because people say there is nothing new under the sun. It is just a new way of interpreting it. Although fashion can be intimidating, there is no one like you.

That is what I always come back to. No one is me, nobody. You have to do what you have to do. You were put here for a specific reason. And it does not matter if 100,000 people are doing it. No one has your exact genetic makeup, your exact way of thinking, or even your exact mind. So when you put out something, it is going to be different and it is going to touch someone else. So I always tell myself ‘Fe, there is no other Fe Noel.’

Then vs Now is a series that reminds of how far we have come from our very beginnings to appreciate our present. The stories highlight each of the 2022 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Finalists’ beginnings in design. The designers speak to how they have developed and conceptualized their purposes in fashion.