Introducing – The House of Holli!
An 11-year-old from Stone Mountain, Georgia is creating haute couture designs for herself and her family. During the quarantine, Holli Morgan went viral after her initiative to sew hundreds of masks for homeless people in her area made the news, now she’s taking her talents to another level. Because Of Them We Can spoke with her mother, April Chevon Mcmillian, to learn more about the young fashion designer after she went viral – again – this time when images of the dress she made for her 8-year-old sister, Leila, spread online.
‘’I am having a college graduation ceremony for myself on November 14th. She wanted to create a show stopping dress for her and her sister to wear,’’ Mcmillian said. ‘’I knew that she was talented and her skills would take her places, but I never knew she was as gifted as she is. I have never seen her so focused and so eager to learn like the way she is about sewing.
The tween has been interested in fashion her whole life, even winning best dressed in pre-kindergarten.
‘’She began taking lessons at eight. She started at a class called ‘Stitch It 2 Em’, which taught at-risk youth how to sew,’’ her mom recalled. ‘’Then as time progressed she received private lessons from from Daphania Adams.’’
The beautiful dress Holli made for Leila took her just two and a half hours to make. Leila’s reaction, which included a series of selfies and photos posed in the intricate piece made it clear that she loved it.
”You can’t tell [Leila] anything,” Mcmillian said. ”She was prancing around the house all day with it on. Hence all the selfie pictures in my phone.”
After sharing photos of her daughters online, the post went viral garnering over 20,000 shares. Now Holli has four orders for the same design.
‘’She wants to have [a career in fashion] like JoJo Siwa,’’ Mcmillian shared. ‘’[But] her claim to fame is her masks. She received popularity because she is making 1200 masks for homeless people. So because she committed to making that amount she makes and designs her own clothing between that time.”
A seamstress with a mission? We love it!
To find out more about Holli or to follow her work visit Holli Hearts Humanity.
Photo Credit: April Chevon Mcmillian/Facebook