Oxford traditionally kicks into high gear in the days leading up to the Double Decker Festival. With it, we expect music, art vendors, and delicious local food. This year, Jeffery Markese Peavy is making his contribution to the busy festival season with the fifth installment of the “Eco-Fashion Show.”
“Eco-Fashion, a style of fashion that generates from the premises of sustainability and unconventional creativity, has gained an extensive artistic interest in Oxford,” and Thursday, April 21, Peavy will launch his career in fashion with 1992, inspired by his grandmother’s love for “eclectic and whimsical” 80’s designs.
“The show itself is catered to looking at 1992 through the lens of my grandmother,” said Peavy. “She was a really big style maven, trying to make a career for herself around the time I was born.”
His grandmother, Inetta “Abby” Quinn, grew up in McComb, Mississippi, and shared the same love for fashion, pursuing a career in modeling.
“She wanted to be a model, but she was also interested in fashion design,” said Peavy. “This is in McComb, Mississippi, back then when there was no one talking becoming a fashion designer or modeling. The show itself, as far as 1992, articulates her mindset and her fashion in 1992 and how I’m translating that style and aesthetic of clothing into the collection I’m producing.”
The collection marks Peavy’s largest endeavor yet as a designer.
“Usually every year I design a couple pieces,” said Peavy. “This is the first wearable collection of garments that I’m producing and it’s the largest. This collection has 30 looks.”
As well as launching his career, Peavy hopes this show will aid in creating a network between himself and others in this fashion industry.
“What I really see the show doing is providing connections, giving me a clientele.” said Peavy. “Through those partnerships I’m able to build my brand.”
His hopes of meeting others in the fashion world worked out better than he had hoped.
“I’ve already been contacted by another artist in town,” said Peavy. “Her name is Trisha Gibson and she’s a hair designer. She’s doing a fashion show at the convention center on Double Decker weekend and I will be showing a small capsule collection there as well.”
Finding models for the show was at the forefront of his mind in the month leading up to 1992.
“My principle models, the first girls I contacted—and I would even say my muses for the show—were really close friends,” said Peavy. “I was worried I wouldn’t have enough models for show, but once I booked one model she knew at least one more girl and that’s built up to about 12 models. I even have Ms. Kentucky as a model.”
In 1992 Peavy has worked to make it an inclusive exhibition.
“I’m working with a range of women’s body sizes,” said Peavy. “Usually I work with double size, that dress form, but I’ve expanded to working with plus-size fashion too.”
1992 is scheduled to start at 8 pm at The Powerhouse on University Avenue. Admission to the show is $5. You can see more of Peavy’s work Saturday, April 23, as part of The Social Scene Hair & Fashion Show at the Oxford Conference Center.
“This is the first show I’m doing as an independent designer,” said Peavy. “It’s still eco-fashion, but it’s not related to the university and it’s not a part of green week specifically. It’s the show that is going to launch my brand for the summer.” 
