The story of Jermikko Shoshanna’s journey, from Walter Scott’s plantation in Tallulah Louisiana to amazing success in the fashion world, is as magical, unique, and exciting as the beautiful fashions she designs. Jermikko was blessed with an amazing talent, and as we know, blessings come with angels, and she has had her share along the way. Her angels consist of people who, impressed by her incredible talent, blessed her in the most amazing ways.
For instance, when seven-year-old Jermikko decided that she wanted her grandmother to be dressed in bright, vibrant colors, she took Granny’s only white mother of the church uniform down to the river and dyed it with red mud, Granny didn’t spank her or punish her. She wore the dress to church on Sunday morning, and when asked, told the other church mothers, “My grandbaby made this for me.” Unfortunately, the bright, vibrant red mud didn’t quite wash out of the dress, and when Granny slid from one end of the long church bench to the other end (because that’s how Granny shouted) she left a vibrant, red mud stain all along the bench. And so, she simply advised her grandbaby “Don’t you touch another one of my uniforms.”
Perhaps that was the beginning of Jermikko’s fashion designing career – although she didn’t know exactly what to call it back then. She only knew she wanted to make lots of clothes for lots of people – and after coming to Chicago at the age of 10, and attending school here, she learned the proper name from her high school counselor, who assured her that there were no Negro fashion designers – and her only options were nurse, social worker or teacher.
Jermikko had several jobs after graduating from DuSable High School – but it was at her job at Illinois Bell Telephone Company that she met another angel. Her supervisor, who instead of firing her for plugging up a customer’s phone for calling her the n-word, she instead ordered her to find a school where she could learn fashion designing, and bring her back a note from the school and she would allow Jermikko to work for th e phone company part time for the duration of her education
Not knowing how to find such a school, Jermikko went to Saks Fifth Avenue and announced that she wanted to design the fashions for that upscale, Michigan Avenue store. Instead of laughing at the naivete’ of this brash young Black girl, Ms. Nena Ivon was so taken with the designs Jermikko had drawn that she sent her to meet with Ms. Shirley Sherman at the School of The Art Institute. Jermikko’s amazing talent also impressed Ms. Sherman, who accepted her into the school on two conditions: that she qualify for a student loan, and also bring a portfolio. Jermikko’s mother’s refusal to sign for the loan was only a
momentary setback and this
young Black girl went directly to Continental Bank, just knowing she could get a loan based on her job at Illinois Bell. Back then, and even now, it’s hard enough for a Black person with a job and a credit history to get a loan at a bank – but she tried. Two days later, she came home to a note stating someone from Continental Bank had called her. Back at the bank, she was handed an envelope in which a man who had seen her there two days previously and had retired two days previously, had placed all her loan documents. This stranger signed for Jermikko’s student loan, admonishing her not to let him down.
Jermikko decided she would design herself a special outfit to attend this very special private nightclub similar to Studio 54 Disco Club located in New York. She designed herself a pair of Gold Lame Jeans, but she needed a blouse, and she went to Oak Street to buy one. Of course, she couldn’t afford the $135 blouse that she took to the dressing room to try on anyway – and of course another Angel the store manager suspected she couldn’t afford it, and followed her into the dressing room, only to fall in love with Jermikko’s jeans. She called another woman to look at them, and they ordered five pairs of jeans. That was Jermikko’s first official order. She took the jeans next door to My Sister’s Circus, and they placed an order, and Jermikko is still doing business with them to this day.
Jermikko got a sales rep – Cookie Robinson and told Cookie not to tell people who she was because knowing a Black woman-owned the business could keep prejudiced white buyers and store owners from placing orders with her. Cookie didn’t believe white people could be so biased, but she learned the hard way when she was so happy about a $5,000 order that she proudly told the woman about this
“very talented designer,” and the woman suddenly realized she had over-bought
and had to cancel the order. Even buying fabric was difficult, until she engaged her staff: Ashley, her accountant (her cat), and Murray Andretti who handled production (her hamster).
She had to pretend to be a sales rep and the sample hand, as opposed to the business owner.
But success has a way of overcoming racism and prejudice. Jermikko Shoshana became the first Chicago designer to appear on the cover of Women’s Wear Daily – the bible of the fashion industry.
She also became the first African American ever to be named Designer of the Year.
She has designed for movies such as Chi-Raq and series such as Empire, and celebrities such as Dionne Warwick, TV Series, Touched By An Angel, Merri Dee, Gladys Knight, Gayle Sayers, (Jermikko designed all of his leathers) to name a few. Jermikko set up the first African American designer/Manufacturer which would become the largest female African American firm in Illinois and her collection would be sold in over 679 retailers nationally and internationally. She states the Klan is probably wearing her designs and don’t know it.
Now for the two years that Jermikko had been employed by Illinois Bell, each day she would sit at the board and sketch her designs on the back of a form that was used to keep an account of calls from hotels, and she would discard those drawings in the trash.
Fast forward – with her loan papers signed, the only thing left to do was to bring a portfolio to Mrs. Sherman. Jermikko had no idea what a portfolio was. When she asked her supervisor what was a portfolio, the supervisor opened her desk drawer and pulled out all of Jermikko’s drawings that she had been saving for two years, and explained “I could have fired you for using company supplies –however, this is a portfolio, put these sketches in order and take them to the School of the Art Institute.”
After her first year at the School of the Art Institute, and the University of Chicago which she attended concurrently. Jermikko got enough awards and scholarships along with three part-time jobs to pay for the rest of her schooling, so she no longer needed student loans. One scholarship was the Stanley Korshak Award, and after Jermikko told Mr. Korshak that she wanted to have her own business, he allowed her to work at his exclusive 900 N. Michigan Avenue Boutique, which house only the top designers to learn
the fashion business and meet customer she only read about in the Society News. There she learned how designer clothes were constructed when they came from Paris, Italy, New York and she met Mrs. McCormick of McCormick Place, entertainers like Diane Carroll, and mobsters like Sam Giancana, Mr. and Ms. Ray (McDonald) Kroc, and many more affluent customers. Another call from another angel, musician Nan Mason of the Pump Room who introduced her to her friend, Ms. Terry Murphy, who worked as a News reporter for channel 7 television, who Jermikko designed a gown to wear for the first News Emmy award, then invited Jermikko to Faces Nightclub.
To date, Jermikko’s collection was the first designer of color to sell in Marshall Fields and Nordstrom” and have a permanent design housed in the Chicago Historical Society. She is inducted in the history books as a HistoryMaker and the Library of Congress as a StyleMaker. Every year her former high school teacher, Dr. Margaret Burroughs would bring material from Africa for Jermikko to design garments for her. Jermikko added Inventor to her title with her patent-pending invention Jermikko Unzip Face Mask designed to last forever. The City and the Mayor awarded her company a half million-piece mask contract in the beginning of the Pandemic. Singer, Beyoncé’ chose Jermikko’s duel Patented SwapOut Athleisure Wear Hoodie for her Lemonade Video. The SwapOut Athleisure, patents opened the door for her to become the first person of color in history to be awarded patents on a consumer wearable garment.
Jermikko loves telling the story of how she started her business with fifty dollars, two tree trunks, a home sewing machine, a metal card table, three yards of fabric, and a six-pound dog, whose job it was to sit on the fabric while she cut.
She also tells the story of when she won the Designer of the Year award, and the celebration was at the Conrad Hilton Hotel, where one black flight attendant was mistakenly in attendance in the audience of 1000 plus and when they announced her name there was thunderous applause, which faded to less enthusiastic claps when she reached the stage. She tells us, “I asked God to give me the right words to say — so, I’m standing at the podium and I look up and say, ‘Yep, I’m Black!’
And finally, Jermikko says, “I am proud of the concrete I was born to lay and I pray it has been smoother for designers coming after me. I have prospered in this career I love since the late 60’s and I am proud to still be current and as Dr. Dre humbly states. STILL RELEVANT AND IN-DEMAND!”
