Meet Derrick Kern: Winner of Magic City Fashion Week Emerging Designer Competition

By Ameera Steward | The Birmingham Times

Along with restaurants, tailgates, HBCU fans and the local economy, count Derrick Kern, a 20-year-old from Aurora, Colorado, among the winners in Birmingham last week.

Kern was named Magic City Fashion Week’s Emerging Designer in a competition that took place at Events at Haven in Birmingham.

“I am so excited and thrilled to be recognized by the amazing judges assembled for Magic City Fashion Week 2024,” Kern told The Birmingham Times. “I am motivated to continue my pursuit and establish myself as an emerging designer with the fashion industry.”

Through his brand ‘Key to Life is Love,’ Kern presented a collection with a new take on the distressed look of clothing. The focus of his designs was “enabling fashion enthusiasts to consider sustainability by retrofitting [add (a component or accessory) to something that did not have it when manufactured] existing items and mixing them with new items that have pops of color and different fabrics,” he said.

Made with all genders in mind, ‘Key to Life is Love’ is a streetwear brand that bridges the gap between “casual” and “fancy” by offering “pieces that are versatile [so] you can wear them for a casual work day or a night out,” he added.

Ranging from $50 to $130, Kern’s designs are made with happiness in mind.

“My mission is to make everybody happy with my clothing and…eventually make it more accessible and more affordable to kids who can’t afford it,” said Kern. “I come from a place of not always having the best stuff, but now that I’m in a better place I want to create an even better future for the youth, and people who really like my designs.”

Struggle Breeds Inspiration

Growing up in Aurora, Kern was one of the children he strives to help now. He said he didn’t always have the best clothing and his parents couldn’t always afford what was trending. He asked himself, “‘why don’t I just make my own clothes?’”

In 2022, after graduating from Vista Peak High School [located in Aurora, Col.] Kern began making his own clothes. He was also working at Target, and although he had the money to afford what he wanted, he thought “[I] might as well wear what I want to create in this life.”

Kern started looking at other designs helping him figure out what he really liked. “I taught myself how to create the designs and then found a manufacturer to help produce the items,” he said. “I did go to school for graphic design to learn how to do graphics” as well.

In addition to graphic design, he studied film and video production at Pickens Technical College, located in Aurora and graduated in 2023, the same year he started to fully produce under his brand name.

After marketing his designs on social media, “[the attention his brand received is] what motivated me to continue with more of my ideas,” he said.

With his unisex designs influenced by New York style, Kern is inspired to create the things he wishes to see in the industry that “nobody’s ever made.”

“And honestly, a designer called Virgil Abloh inspired me,” he added. “He passed away unfortunately, but when he was still alive he inspired me with a lot of designs [and] his uniqueness … It’s not about making the best clothes, it’s about making clothes that make people happy [with] what they…wear.”

Magic City Fashion Week

Founded in 2017 to cultivate, connect, showcase, and provide economic opportunity to Birmingham’s creative community through fashion, MCFW emphasizes the development of emerging designers while fostering engagement with community partners to utilize fashion as a vehicle for change.

With this goal in mind each season includes an emerging designer competition fashion show as the main event where emerging designers showcase their collections to a group of judges who then choose a winner who is usually given a prize as well as mentorship to officially present their collection to a wider audience.

In 2023, while selling his designs at the Black Arts Festival in Denver, a recurring customer told Kern that his work was amazing and needed to be seen. The customer asked if he had ever heard of MCFW, which Kern hadn’t.

“So he’s telling me…it’s an amazing fashion show, [and] Birmingham is an amazing place,” explained Kern. “He was…explaining how it brings [people] together [and how] it could bring a lot of opportunities. I was very interested.”

After the festival, the first thing he and his mom did when they returned home was research MCFW, and “we were like we’ve got to do this…we [have] to show more people my creative thoughts.”

And that’s exactly what he did when reaching Birmingham. Kern’s creative thoughts hit the runway in such a way that he went home with a win.

He expressed that reaching this point with his designs after being incapable of affording the clothes he wanted when he was younger is mind blowing.

“Praying gets you a long way,” Kern said. “I wouldn’t have expected stuff to change so fast…we went through hard times…but you have to go through hard times to get to the best times. It’s a big…change in life, and I’m just excited for the opportunity that I have” to create his own designs.