Greensboro has a long-standing history with textiles. And while many manufacturers are long gone and factory structures repurposed, there are still some innovators who continue to carry the torch. Megan Lagueruela is one of those individuals. A self-described fiber artist and fashion designer, she grew up in an entrepreneurial family and gained valuable business acumen from her father. After learning how to sew as a young teen in home economics class, Megan “caught the bug” and eventually pursued a fine arts degree with a concentration in fashion and fibers at SCAD. Megan was taught that the logical next step would be to work at a major fashion house, but she wasn’t interested. The fashion world was eye-opening for her, and she saw how much waste and thoughtlessness was involved in the practice. Megan had a realization: “We’ve lost perspective on heritage craft.”
After stints in Asheville and High Point, and working at her father’s local made-to-order furniture business, she knew there was a different way to do things. She bought a loom and a website domain and invested in fabric. She created her first look book of one-of-a-kind art wear and officially started her business, Megan-Ilene, full-time in 2019.
Today, Megan works from her studio in Greensboro, where every piece is hand-treated, cut, and sewn locally. Megan-Ilene releases a new collection of garments each spring and fall. Collections typically consist of about 20 items with a few colorways: there’s almost always a button-down shirt with a unisex cut, soft separates, a few dresses, a jacket, and accessories. Sustainability is central to her work. She exclusively uses natural, biodegradable fibers and follows a rigorous zero-waste approach to design. Megan weaves any salvage off-fall into new textiles, or finds other innovative ways to play with waste and scraps. Megan salvages even the tiniest scraps and threads, pressing them between organza and quilting them into distinctive textiles made entirely from reclaimed materials. “It tells the story of the pieces that I’ve made,” says Megan. “It’s a labor of love . . . archival confetti.”
She carries around a sketch book and takes inspiration from the world around her: shapes, colors, architecture. She visits art galleries and museums. She pays close attention to fashion cycles, and keeps an eye to the major fashion houses. Megan has a knack for recognizing trends and transforming them into pieces that she would personally like to have and wear. “If I make something, it has to serve a purpose,” she says. “I’m always looking to answer the question ‘how do I make this practical?’”
Megan’s currently working on her spring and summer 2027 collection, where she’s playing with modularity to make items more applicable to different body shapes. “When I work on designs, I find a theme, and that directs the color palette. Then that helps me with fabrics, and the fabrics may also inform the design,” she explains. Megan then starts building patterns off her ideas, first sketching them out on paper. After a few renditions, she takes the design to a sample maker. She schedules photoshoots with a local photographer to create her look book for the particular collection. Then begins the rigorous schedule of traveling to attend trade shows. Megan presents her collection to stores and wholesalers from all over the world. She also travels across the U.S. to attend fine craft fairs, trunk shows, and pop-ups. When Megan’s not busy traveling to craft and trade shows, she’s taking commissions for private customers or businesses. She’s had private label jobs with Wrangler and Lee and done commissions for furniture company showrooms.
Megan is always planning for another season and thinking about what’s next. She enjoys researching and respecting historical textiles from across the globe. Her mind is always swirling with ideas about how to take fabrics and piece them into inclusive silhouettes, and how to merge historical craft and modern innovation.
At the heart of it all is a desire to communicate something deeper than fashion alone. “I like to tell stories with fabric.”
About Megan-Ilene
Every garment is a unique exploration of art and design that utilizes natural and upcycled textiles to create functional art-wear. Silhouettes are designed to offer inclusive sizing and each piece is is produced in-house, locally, by entities receiving a fair, livable wage.
Explore Megan-Ilene's latest collection and shop online:
www.megan-ilene.com | @megan.ilene