Exeter woman making waves in fashion and as a TikTok star
EXETER — Sewing and designing clothes had always been a passion for 25-year-old Alexis Kesslen, but it wasn’t until after she earned her degree in business management that she decided to turn it into her career.
Now, Kesslen, of Exeter, is months away from graduating from the two-year certificate program at the School of Fashion Design in Boston and has amassed over 30,000 followers on TikTok, where her videos have received thousands and sometimes millions of views.
“I’ve been sewing since I was 15, and I’ve always found it so fun and soothing,” said Kesslen. “I’ve always loved esthetics and designing, and just beautiful things. I went to college, and when I graduated, I didn’t see (fashion) as a career path. I just didn’t realize how fruitful it could be for someone like me. I live in New Hampshire, so, nowhere near a fashion hub like New York or LA, or something like that. So, I just didn’t even really think of it.”
After graduating from Plymouth State, Kesslen began working as a product development assistant and later as an assistant product manager for a catalog company called Potpourri Group. It was there, she started to explore the idea of fashion design as a career.
She said she often would sit in on fit meetings, where items from vendors would be discussed by designers and buyers. She would take notes on their comments regarding specific elements of the items that needed altering.
“They’d say, ‘the placket needs to be changed. It needs to be an inch thicker,’” she gave as an example. “A lot of the stuff that they said, I was just so interested in, because that was the side of fashion that I was drawn to – the actual making of the garments. So, that’s kind of when I started looking for somewhere where I could learn those skills.”
All it took to find the School of Fashion Design was a Google search. She set up a time to meet with Jim Hannon, the director of operations, and toured the school.
“I sat in on a draping class and you know, I was sold,” said Kesslen.
What does School of Fashion Design’s program look like?
Jennifer Leclerc, the former associate director, is the executive director of the School of Fashion Design.
She explained the school offers both a two-year certificate program and a three-year diploma, which essentially allows students to delve deeper into a specific concentration of interest for their final year.
The school is also unique in that it is the only one that focuses exclusively on apparel design and construction.
“We don’t do marketing or merchandising, things like that,” said Leclerc. “Graduates of our program leave the School of Fashion Design with the technical skills and the technical abilities to make anything.”
Leclerc said the school takes pride in “removing barriers” to learning the trade.
“We do not require a portfolio for admission, because one of our biggest values is to keep the doors open,” Leclerc said. “Apparel design and construction is a learned skill, and it’s our job to teach you those skills…. So, we have students who come to us having never sat at a sewing machine before, and by their second semester, they are designing and producing garments that go down our runway at our fashion show.”
In addition to classes, students have the opportunity to design pieces to be showcased at the school’s annual fashion show.
Kesslen’s designs take center stage
Kesslen had four pieces showcased at last year’s fashion show. This year’s show will feature between 6 to 8 of her looks.
Kesslen’s first design featured a fiery red vest with a slashed sleeve over a bishop sleeve blouse and white pants with introverted box pleats.
Others from last year include a stunning black dress with darted sleeve caps, a pink dress made by draping geometric pattern pieces, and one that utilized positive and negative space to accentuate the features of the body.
The pieces for the upcoming show are still in the making and will be modelled on the runway in May.
“It’s been very busy and amazing,” Kesslen said.
Gaining a following on TikTok
Kesslen, in addition to her studies and designing for the runway, also has a strong social media presence.Her TikTok page which has a follower count of over 30,000, is visited by like-minded people with an interest in fashion.
She began posting on the app during the COVID-19 pandemic, during her sophomore year of college when all the students were sent home.
“We still had classes. They were online, but when I wasn’t in class, I was like, what am I gonna do? And so, I just started sewing and started posting it on TikTok,” she said.
She began making fashion content around upcycling, including flipping thrifted items, tutorials, and clothing hacks.
“I just did a hack of, like, how to make a tube top that was going viral,” she said. “It was a super easy thing to make. You just cut a T-shirt and sew two straight lines, and you have a tube top, basically. And I had incorporated a strap into it that was easy to do as well.”
This video was the first video that gained significant traction, gaining her around 1,000 followers.
“Sometimes I would just have an idea that I didn’t really plan, but I was like, oh, I’ll just record this because, you know, maybe this could be useful for someone else.”
Another video she made, was a tutorial for altering an undergarment so that it wouldn’t be visible under a low-cut dress.
“That was my first video that got more than a million views, and I got maybe 10,000 followers from just that video alone,” Kesslen said. “And since then, it’s just continued.”
Another video features a blanket she made for her mother out of her grandfather’s old ties.
“He just had so many ties when we cleaned out his apartment,” she said. “Nobody was really using the ties. I didn’t want to throw them away, and I didn’t want to donate them because, you know, it was something to keep from my grandpa,” she said.
This video garnered over 600,000 views.
“It was just like a heartwarming thing that I did. And I think a lot of people liked that idea,” said Kesslen. “So many of the comments were like, I want to do this, or I’ve tried to make a quilt before and this helped me. That was so amazing.”
Plans for the future
Kesslen will be graduating with the Class of 2025 in May.
She said right after graduating, she hopes to keep learning and working with clients.
Her biggest aspiration is to open up her own size-inclusive shop.
“I really, one day want to be able to have my own shop, or my own business of some kind, where I either sell patterns that are easily adjustable or clothes that are easily adjustable,” she said.
Kesslen said her advice for anyone who wants to get into the fashion industry, is “Don’t be afraid to try it.”
“I think everyone’s worst fear is being wrong or making a mistake, and then, you know, getting discouraged by that. But I think that’s how you learn,” Kesslen said. “That’s why, originally, I loved posting on TikTok, because I would get comments from people that were like, ‘Oh my god, this taught me something,’ or they’d asked me a question, and I’d be able to answer it. And I love sharing my knowledge too…you don’t have to be wanting it to be your career necessarily, to take a class there and learn something.”
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