fashioning the world Since 1984
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Preparing to meet the world impeccably dressed was something Rachel mastered at a very young age. Rachel worked hard as a student all the while being drawn to fabrics, design, and creation.  This dichotomy would be at times a thorn, sometimes a stepping-stone and ultimately the key to Rachel’s success. 

Rachel considered Parsons and the Fashion Institute of Technology in her senior year of High School.  However, the more sensible less riskier side of the dichotomy won out.  In 2002, Rachel attended Hofstra University and pursued a degree in English Literature.  As an English major, Rachel was exposed to all genres of literature and authors who span the globe.  Her studies in international literature influenced her decision to study abroad in Spain and Japan.  

Throughout her undergraduate career Rachel continued to sketch, but what filled her drawing tablet wasn't still life impressions of fruit but elegant dresses.  The dichotomy still ever present continued nagging as an ever-present specter in all her decisions about her future.  After graduating from Hofstra in 2006, Rachel spent the summer in Japan.  She visited Issey Miyake’s design center and the creative force there and everywhere in Japan moved her to make fashion design a goal.

When she returned to America she set her sights on attending Parsons The New School for Design, she submitted her application two weeks before the deadline and was accepted for Spring 2007. Always business minded, Rachel worked at an investment firm full time to learn more about finances, while attending Parsons full time.     

Rachel later applied to Parsons The New School for Design in Paris, she worked tirelessly on her application and portfolio.  In her heart she knew the timeless elegance of Paris would be exactly where she should go to pursue her third degree.  She was accepted into the competitive Fashion Design program in June of 2008.  

While working to complete her degree in NY, Rachel received a letter to say that Parsons in Paris was taken off the list for student loans.  Rachel was devastated that she would not be able to attend.  Refusing to be discouraged, Rachel went on to intern for Catherine Fung during the fall of 2008 and after, Rachel worked for a startup Design House (Rafael Cennamo) as the Operational Manager.

On January 1, 2011, Rachel and her sister Marshea, founded Pepper Jacques, an innovative luxury clothing brand that utilises smart, sophisticated design to capture the shapes and styles of a woman’s body.  Pepper Jacques is not a Misses brand, Pepper Jacques is not a Plus brand, Pepper Jacques is a Women's wear brand, that designs for all women.  

Fashion Historian Curator Archivist Lead Authority on Jay Jaxon Since 2017
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By 2016, Rachel decided to fully immerse her life and world into fashion by furthering her education at Parsons Paris, The New School for Design in Paris, France. In May 2018, Rachel successfully defended her Master’s thesis: “JAY JAXON: A Biographical Study and Media Discourse Analysis Reinstating A Designer Into Fashion History.” Pursuing this degree gave her the opportunity to write the first biographical study and critical discourse analysis.

Rachel displayed her first exhibition of Jay Jaxon at the Mona Bismarck l’American Center for Art and Culture in Paris, France (2018). She then went on to display Jaxon’s work at the Queens Central Library in his hometown of Jamaica, Queens, New York (2019). For the 50th Anniversary of Jay Jaxon’s historic Couturier role at the creating haute couture and Prêt-à-Porter collections for Maison Jean-Louis Scherrer, Rachel exhibited his work at the Queens Historical Society from February 2020 through December 2020. 

Throughout her scholarship Rachel became an LVMH Talent, Editor-in-Chief of the first edition NAÏVE fashion newspaper established by her cohort and first graduating class, and she wrote several essays challenging the fashion historiographical narrative as it is written in books and subsequently selected for syllabi largely in White academia. In the process of leveling the playing field for Black creatives who are historically removed, erased, and edited out of the cannon, Rachel decided to write an essay about four designers of color Elizabeth Keckley, Ann Lowe, Arthur McGee, and Jay Jaxon.

Rachel’s goal was to examine the history of these designers through their successes in establishing businesses during the Jim Crow era.  Moreover, due to the lack of accessible documented information particularly on Jay Jaxon’s fashion contributions, via online media and barely existent in academic sources, this became the launching pad for Rachel’s master’s thesis.  Ultimately, a new passion was realized in preserving and protecting the legacy of designer’s who are Black through scholarship, biographical texts, and exhibitions. 

The investigatory research process to uncover Jay Jaxon’s fashion history, led Rachel to various museums and libraries such as Les Art Décoratif (MAD), Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, Musée Pierre Cardin and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris as well as the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum and Parsons The New School of Design Archives in New York.  In addition, she was able to search various news and magazine publication databases such as Google Newspapers, Le Figaro, Le Monde, New York Times, Essence, Ebony, French and American Vogue archives.  

However, it would be the research tools Rachel learned prior to the existence of the internet that would ultimately let her meet and interview several of Jaxon’s friends, family members, and loved ones in both Paris and the United States.  Through these interviews and meetings, Rachel garnered a great amount of material, objects, and oral history that allowed her to write the fashion biographical study of Jay Jaxon as well as curating exhibitions cementing his place in history.