Everyone saw it. Sha'Carri Richardson staring down the competition as she trotted to her first Olympic gold medal. But then there's the track star's exquisite bustier top made out of SNEAKERS when she attended the USA men's basketball gold medal game in Paris.
The Nike Dunk bustier is from FRISKMEGOOD, a high-fashion brand owned by designer Cierra Boyd, who started the company in her mother's attic after she finished fashion school. Boyd's eye-catching creations and authentic personality have built a loyal following who celebrated Richardson's viral moment with her.
Boyd was a contestant on season two of HBO Max's "The Hype," but the show was just a blip on her extensive resume since she started her brand in 2017. She has made a Nike top for Dreezy, a Skechers outfit for Doja Cat and a Balenciaga sneakers top for Cardi B. FRISKMEGOOD has expanded to offer handbags and high-fashion shoes too.
The brand has sustainability built into its DNA. Boyd's first designs were based on upcycling because of necessity. But now repurposing is essential to her mission as she seeks to inspire others to express themselves just like her fashion inspiration, Rihanna, has inspired her.
Kick The Concrete spoke with Boyd about her viral moment with Richardson's bustier, building FRISKMEGOOD and how a recent move to Los Angeles is evidence her dreams are coming true.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Kick The Concrete: What inspired you to make sneaker corsets in the first place?
Cierra Boyd: I started making sneaker corsets in 2019. I was in my first design competition. I started my business in 2017 and I really, at the time when I did this competition, I wasn’t that confident in my design skills. I’m also self-taught. I went to school for fashion, but I went to school for retail merchandising and fashion product development, not design. I realized I wanted to be a designer my junior year of college. So everything up until that point was self-taught. So really didn’t have that much self-confidence, but my dream was to be on a design competition show. So I started googling design competitions to try to find one and I just so happened to find one in my city. I’m from Cleveland, Ohio and it’s not even normal for us to have any type of fashion-related events. So when I saw that there was a design competition, I hopped on it immediately.
One of the challenges in the competition was to make something without using fabric. The other two challenges was to make something without using thread and then the other one was to upcycle a dress that they gave me, because it was randomly this lady who owned a dress shop at the mall in Cleveland was putting on the competition and she was giving us her old dresses. So I had the no-thread and the upcycle dress challenge down. I was like, "Yeah, I got this. This is cute." The only thing that was tripping me up was the no-fabric challenge. I’m like sitting here thinking, I’m like, "Okay, am I gonna use like chip bags? Am I gonna use guitar picks?" I was just so torn. But one night, I was working and usually when I work, I have on my YouTube and stuff like that. So I was watching this episode of VICE about how a guy made gas masks out of sneakers and I was like, "Oh shit, maybe I can try to make a top out of sneakers." So I emailed the judges from the competition and asked did sneakers count as fabric? And they were like, "No, do it."
So did that and I drafted up a top originally. And I didn’t really like how it looked as a top, so I kinda like moved it down. I don’t know if I was taking it off or like just playing around with it. But somehow it ended up around my waist and I was like, hmm, sneaker corset. This is kinda weird, but kinda cute, but I really don’t have that much time left in the competition. So I’m gonna go with it.
Fast forward to the end of the competition, I didn’t end up winning, but I did get second place in the competition and that really gave me a lot of confidence as far as being a designer because I was going up against people who had been designing for over 10 years. So to be able to make my mark in that competition gave me a new sense of validation and confidence and from there, I put the sneaker corset on Depop and people really loved it.
From there, I just started making more sneaker corsets and then from there, I started evolving the design into what it is today. So I started making bodysuits, dresses, tops, bottoms and it slowly evolved into me making shoes. So it’s just been like an evolution since 2019.
KTC: That’s so cool! There’s nothing like a deadline to make us finish something, right?
CB: Literally!
KTC: How did you connect with Sha’Carri Richardson for her cool sneaker top that went viral?
CB: I actually have worked with one of the stylists before, her name is Sankara (Xasha Turé). I’ve worked with her before on other projects and she actually last week is when this all happened. Actually, I guess this is two weeks ago now. Let me look at my calendar to see when they actually hit me up for this. This was July 31. So hit me up on July 31 and they said they wanted to do a top for Sha’Carri. Well, they didn’t even say top, at first they wanted me to do a skirt and like a bustier, but then she ended up telling me to do whatever I want to do, so my favorite thing to do is the tops, so that’s kind of how that happened.
KTC: I’m sure that’s encouraging when someone’s like just do what you love.
CB: Exactly.
KTC: Was that a design you had already been working on? Did you know you wanted to do Dunks?
CB: Originally with the sneaker situation, we were supposed to do a completely different sneaker. We were supposed to do the track shoes with spikes. I guess when (the stylist) went to the Nike store or something, they wouldn’t let her buy one pair of shoes in bulk because I needed 12 altogether. I also made her a pair of shorts that she hasn’t worn yet, too. They wouldn’t let her get all one of the same pair, so that’s how we ended up getting the different colors and doing like a colorblock situation.
KTC: So there's more to look forward to with the shorts! What was it like to see your work on the Olympic stage on one of the biggest athletes of the moment?
CB: It was so rewarding because first of all, I love Sha’Carri and I’ve been rooting for her since day one. So I just love that she was able to wear my piece. Honestly, I wasn’t even expecting it to go viral on this level. I didn’t even know what she was wearing it for. I just knew that she was gonna be wearing it to an Olympic event, but they didn’t tell me basically anything. They were just like we need it and they had it in New York, they had me send it to New York, so all I knew was I had a two-day deadline and I had to get it shipped off in two days to get it to New York and that’s all I knew. I didn’t know anything about anything.
KTC: How did you find out that she wore it?
CB: Ironically, none of this was even supposed to happen. So I had went to the LA library to get a library card and I just so happened to see my best friend at the library and I was like "Oh, shit, what’s up girl?" She was like, "Do you wanna go get drinks?" I’m like, "Sure!" So we went to go get drinks and the Olympic basketball game just so happened to be on. And I’m sitting here like, "Yes America! Go America!" And we’re watching, we’re invested and we won. And I looked away from the TV for like one second and then I started getting messages like, "Was Sha’Carri just wearing your top at the basketball game?" I was like, "Wait, are you serious? It was on TV?" They were like, "Yeah, she was hugging LeBron and Steph Curry." And I was like, "What?!" I literally just looked away for one second. So I’m sitting up here trying to look it up and I don’t see anything. And then the stylist Sankara sends me the picture and like I literally, I almost passed out like I was so excited.
KTC: That’s so fun! What a cool thing. I saw that you moved to Los Angeles recently. You mentioned earlier that Cleveland doesn’t have much of a fashion scene, what has that been like for you to be in that city that is more fashion-forward?
CB: Oh, man. Moving to LA has been an absolute dream. I’ve always wanted to live here. I’ve been going back and forth from LA since 2015 but never really had the funds to move out here. So I spent four years saving up money to be able to move here and it’s been nothing short of a dream. I’m honestly grateful that I moved here when I did, when I started having a following and clients and everything. So the timing was absolutely perfect moving here and I’ve been loving every second. I’m really happy to be now in a fashion city where I can dress how I want and I feel more accepted and celebrated for the way that I dress and my fashion.
KTC: Yeah, that’s great! I lived in LA for six years, I definitely miss the creativity and acceptance.
CB: Yes! Exactly, exactly.
KTC: I know that sustainability is a key element of your brand. Why is that important to you?
CB: I just love sustainability. Well, first of all, the reason I started making sustainable clothing was I was doing it unconsciously before I even knew, because when I first started designing, I didn’t have any money for fabric. I didn’t have any money for materials or anything. And I had just moved back home from college with my mom. Being that I was a broke post-graduate student, I was like you know what, I’m gonna just start using stuff in our attic and I’m gonna make clothes outta the stuff in the attic. So sooner or later, I realized that I was upcycling without even noticing that that’s what I was doing and that’s when I decided to make it my mission. Because my whole entire brand has been based off of making something out of nothing and using like the bare minimum materials. I’m also passionate about sustainability and upcycling and how when you do upcycle, it’s essentially one-of-one. I feel like the exclusivity of that makes it a whole lot more special. In I think it was 2020, I decided to stop using any type of commercial fabric with my clothing line. Because I was like I’m gonna stick to the mission and stick to my roots as far as everything that made FRISKMEGOOD what it was when I first began.
KTC: It seems like you were ahead of the trend. Hopefully, it’s not a trend, it’s a whole movement, but you were ahead of that!
CB: Yeah!
KTC: You were featured on HBO’s “The Hype.” What did you learn from being on that competition?
CB: I’m gonna keep it real, I’m gonna say I learned that television isn’t real and reality television is so fake. No matter what happened on like a TV show and this is to all designers out there who might still happen to go on a reality television show that’s design-based, just because you go on a television show and you don’t win or you don’t make it to the end doesn’t invalidate your skills or your passion or anything you do as a designer. It’s just a platform where it gives you a stage to show the world what you can do and show the world who you are. So never take it personally and just always be you, always be yourself because in the future, this is one little blink of the eye in your life, one little portion. I was only there for like three, four weeks. So thinking of it in the grand scheme of things, there’s so much more things that I accomplished after that and it’s just like a part of my story.
KTC: Yeah, totally. Sometimes from the outside looking in, those big-name things can seem important, but it seems like you’ve had so many other positive career-building experiences since then.
CB: Absolutely.
KTC: I heard that the name FRISKMEGOOD comes from a Rihanna song. How does she inspire you?
CB: First of all, I love Rihanna. She’s my favorite. She’s my favorite fashion icon ever. But when I created FRISKMEGOOD, I was obsessed with the album, “Rated R” and there was this song called “ROCKSTAR 101” and she says, “Make sure you frisk me good, check my panties and my bra” and I was like, “FRISKMEGOOD, that’s it.” So Rihanna has always inspired me fashion-wise and her whole attitude and her whole, “I’m gonna be me and not give a fuck” attitude has really just inspired me. I really, she’s my number one, once I work with Rihanna, I’ve made it. I don’t even care about anything else after that.
KTC: You can retire.
CB: Yeah!
KTC: And I love how her and Rocky have a family. I love them.
CB: Same, same. I love Rihanna real bad.
KTC: As the brand has grown and evolved how has the name continued to represent your vision?
CB: I think FRISKMEGOOD is all about confidence. It’s a very sexy clothing line. It’s all about feeling good in what you wear. It’s also about being able to wear high fashion, but making a sustainable choice as a consumer. So I feel like FRISKMEGOOD exemplifies that in the name ‘cause it’s all about feeling yourself. So yeah, the name has gone from just a catchy Instagram name to my entire brand. ‘Cause I came up with the name FRISKMEGOOD in 2012 when I started my Instagram, so this wasn’t even when I started my clothing line. I was always FRISKMEGOOD, but I just never knew that this line would evolve to this level of notoriety.
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