Harlem Highlights is a Q&A series that puts a spotlight on local entrepreneurs, creatives, activists, nonprofits and more in the community.
Meet Seville Ballen, a local fashion designer and vendor in Harlem. Usually posted up on 116th street and 8th ave in front of the infamous BLVD Bistro, Seville markets his business, Ugly Luxury, and sells his one of a kind clothing at his stand. A vibrant innovator with a genuine love for what he does, Seville welcomes onlookers to check out his pieces, always radiating good energy.
I had the opportunity to talk with Seville last week about his business, journey, love of fashion, life lessons and more. Throughout our conversation, he kept circling back to this premonition on the power of purpose. He explains how we see and go about life differently when we identify our purpose, and how knowing and pursuing your purpose can bring you self security. In the midst of a crazy world, Seville’s mindset on life is refreshing and is why I love getting the chance to speak to creatives in the community. Check out my conversation with Seville below!
“The Power of Purpose”
Jo: So can I first off get your name and business for the readers?
Seville: My name is Seville Ballen, and my clothing line is called Ugly Luxury Brand. Our slogan is, “Minus the ugly, we sell luxury.”
We’re using this brand to show people the luxury that’s in them as much as we show luxury in material things, and it’s been a journey doing that.
Jo: Are you Harlem born and raised? If not, where were you originally from?
Seville: I’m originally from New Jersey-right over the bridge in an area called Montclair. That’s where my father was from too. My mom was from East Orange, and my love for fashion came from her-she was a model. My love for music was my dad, because he was a musician for Bob Marley. When you see my videos and stuff, I like telling great stories through fashion and music.
Jo: Wow, so you’ve always had that creativity in your blood.
Seville: I woke up and just must have liked fashion. The other thing I loved like that was music-you know piano playing or saxophone because of some of the artists I’d seen growing up-Louis Armstrong and stuff like that-but no they were the only two things that fascinated me, music and fashion.
Jo: What brought you to Harlem?
Seville: Fashion. I got my first opportunity with this company that designed for Polo called Peerless Clothing.
I was at a trade show in Las Vegas, and I had on one of my designs. This lady saw it and stopped me-she happened to be from New York, I was trying to get here and I got here through one of my designs being discovered by somebody at a trade show! I got my big break in 2010 I think. It brought me here and I’ve been here ever since.
Jo: Going back to music and fashion for a second, it’s cool because I feel like there’s this intersectionality between music and fashion, like streetwear and hip hop-they kind of coincide with each other.
Seville: Growing up it was all together when hip-hop started coming about. B-boys and B-girls, I mean the jewelry and the Kangol hats; the Adidas sneakers and how Run DMC put Adidas on the map. Allen Iverson put Reeboks on the map. Matter of fact there was a brand called AND1. There would have never been a Nike if it weren’t for AND1 because AND1-they were strictly street you know? I mean they did the street basketball tournaments everybody came out to whereas Nike was corporate, so Nike didn’t want to do anything hip-hop and AND1 did. They blew up and when Nike saw that, they bought them out and then they started using streetwear and doing hip-hop.
The first group that did a hip-hop and NBA collaboration was The Lox and that’s what made it take off. Then Spike Lee and Michael Jordan-stuff like that-but at first it was “Nope.”
Because of Michael Jordan, all those basketball players became multi-millionaires because corporate America came after Jordan-McDonalds and the way he wore his clothes. In Michigan they had this group called the Fab Five who were these young basketball players. They were the first black group that introduced long basketball shorts. They made a real fashionable bag. Again, the culture, we’ve changed everything that you see today.
Jo: What comes to mind when you think of your community in Harlem?
Seville: From what I’ve experienced, nothing but love. The response I’ve got from my brand, the information, the connections that I’ve met-you! So you know I’m speaking to someone and that’s what the community is doing for me. They’re giving me an opportunity. Your job is to perfect what you do and it’s someone else’s job to discover it. I know my purpose. My fashion is a setup to meet you, him, her, them-that’s my mindset instead of somebody else that’s like ‘whatever just get money.’ You got to have a purpose. I mean everybody does-maybe some people don’t know if they do or not-but that’s my overall purpose.
Jo: Tell us about your brand, what do you sell?
Seville: I sell men’s and women’s clothing, and my sort of aesthetic is that I like to either buy blank pieces-shirts, jackets, pants-and then I create art on top of them. It’s like somebody buying a blank canvas, and then they just start painting-I’m that way with fashion. I’m good at coming up with great names and then having a purpose behind it. Since I consider myself a wordsmith, you know I come up with a great name like Ugly Luxury and it’s because I remember one time I had on a nice pair of pants and my mom said they’re still ugly. Also people would say we’re ugly or something because of the color of our skin but then I would say, ‘that’s fine, like a diamond, still show them your luxury side.’ Through that, I like to get pieces and do crazy stuff to them, to the point where maybe somebody may say it’s ugly but they’ll never deny it’s not luxury from the care that I put into the pieces, the detail, and the quality that’s how I go about doing what I do.
Then, getting feedback is the best. When somebody calls me and says, “Man I wore your jacket and they freaking loved it.”
People then want to order more so that’s probably the ultimate-when you get the feedback from it.
Jo: What prompted you to start your business?
Seville: I’ve always wanted to and so this is a journey for me and it’s just starting now. This has been a dream of mine all my life-to do something that I love. And doing something for other people as well. It’s a compliment when someone hires you or thinks that you can help them with their brand. Those were building blocks to get me where I’m at today and now I’m at my ultimate dream, doing what I love to do.
That is going through all the challenges of it too and, you know, going through the ups and downs-got money one day, broke the next. All those things are just tests to see if you really love what you’re doing. If you stick through it, before you know it will be like “What?!”
When I tell people I was $30,000 behind my rent trying to get started, people are like “What?!?” Then one day my business just took off and so don’t give up. This is the ultimate right now. I went through maybe five different clothing lines in my life to get to this one, but I believe this is the one.
Jo: What brought you outside and more specifically why did you choose 116th and 8th?
Seville: Well, I had crates and I couldn’t really go that far. I had this little red wagon when I first started so I only could load up two of my little crates and a rack I had. I just felt like going by faith. I knew it wasn’t happening in my studio-nobody was coming and nobody really knew who I was. So, when I took it out to the street, then people started putting two and two together like ‘you always dress nice, now I see why you got your own brand.’
My first customer, and make sure you write this down was, the wife of Huey P. Newton. She was in town, a 72 year-old, six foot two, gorgeous black lady from Oakland, California.
She was here for Malcolm X’s birthday, and actually the young Congressman Justin Jones that got kicked out of Congress-they were both here together walking down the street. She saw my jackets and bought damn near all of my jackets. She spent over a thousand dollars between the two of them. Then it just took off from there. A neighbor also bought a jacket and it just took off. This built my confidence. I just started coming out every day and then I was able to buy new equipment. Dapper Dan stopped by one day and he was telling me what kind of banner and stuff I should get. So the banner I have out there now is the one that came from his advice, and from there I just kept meeting people all the way up to you!
Jo: Wow, if that’s not divine timing I don’t know what is!
Seville: Again, when you’re doing what you’re supposed to or being where you’re supposed to be at, there’s a whole bunch of blessings coming your way. But, if you don’t know it because you’re stuck in the house or you’re afraid to go out, imagine your spouse or your business partners just walking by and you never got to meet them because you were afraid. It’s scary sometimes you know but you still got to do it. Even if you’re shaking, still do it.
I rather shake and be nervous than to never do it at all and miss all those wonderful opportunities and meeting people-people that could change your life one way or another.
Jo: Do you have any future initiatives for your business, any future plans, any things you want to accomplish down the line?
Seville: Harlem gave me my start, so my vision has always been to have an amazing store here that would bring us together and give artists a new chance. I’d have a section in the store for new artists. Imagine if we got a booth there, and you could interview people. All the things I experience out in the street-imagine a store which cultivates that. You can eat food, you feel comfortable, there’s furniture, you’re shopping. Black people are in there and they’re designing.
There’s a little design shop with a guy called the Sneaker Doctor. You can go there, bring your Jordans, cut the soul off of your Jordans, and then you can pick from his rack of fabric and stuff to make a new pair of custom Jordans. I would like to do something like that but with T shirts and other garments.The store would help you build your confidence, whether in media, fashion or music and all that is happening in a store! Oh my God, that would be dope.
Jo: Are there any brands/designers or just people in general that inspire you?
Seville: Yeah one in particular because I like his style of America/his vision of America. I like Ralph Lauren. If I wasn’t wearing my stuff I would be wearing his.
I like his take on American culture and patterns especially like the Native Americans because I grew up with a Native American family. I like that classic style that he has of heavy wools and you know fully dressed and just the quality and stuff like that I really like. He’s never changed over the last 56 years of style. I would probably buy anything of his.
If I had to strive to be anything it would be like that. What he did for colors and patterns I would with the certain meaning of luxury. I’ll always make people feel valuable no matter what-from homeless to whatever you get it by. You’re still valuable, whether you’re homeless, poor, broke or if you get it-just like a diamond, even though it ain’t been found yet, it’s still valuable. Ain’t that interesting? Again, if we can apply that to each other, maybe people would lift themselves out of a temporary situation, because being poor can be temporary.
People stay stuck on what they see instead of what they believe, so I would use that-like Ralph did with Polo-I would use what I grew up in to push my brand.
Jo: What would it inspire you to do?
Seville: Something to make people feel good about themselves. Maybe I get that from growing up in foster care you know? Not knowing how valuable I was or even who I was. Maybe that’s where all this stems from-how I was raised or what I saw. Now I’m hoping I can stop that, or allow people to see their value, just like we do with material things.
Jo: Going back to the whole power of purpose-I just really like what you have to say about recognizing the power of having a purpose. What makes you get up in the morning each day to pursue this goal of yours?
Seville: You just said it-because I have a purpose. It makes you persevere even when you’re having down days, or days you don’t want to do nothing, or you’re in a slump-you kind of remind yourself of why you gotta keep going. Don’t be selfish, get your butt up and you know, get going!
I would actually tell you that you helped me out today. I was just like ‘what am I gonna do next?’ I started, counting my money and this and that, then you called me and at the same time I was reading a little bible study and it was saying ‘keep going’ you know what I mean? Keep conquering. It’s talking about David and Goliath, ‘don’t give up’ and ‘do great things’ and then you hit me up and that inspired me to get my day going.
I keep watching a lot of things-oh, you know, “50 Steps to Success” and “50 Cents to do this.” There’s this one guy on Instagram that’s got all these ways to achieve success, but that’s his knowledge from his experience. Like, that’s not me, but I started getting caught up. I don’t know all the stuff he knows, but I had to tell myself you don’t need that-you got me just relax. Just do what you do, keep going and it’s going to go your way.
When you know somebody’s purpose and we know each other’s, we bring out the best in each other. What brings me purpose is, again, human beings, this is just a setup. That’s the real purpose.
Again I just think all this stuff serves us and we can serve each other. But a lot of people are still like, “Forget you. I got my car, I got my money, I got my career” knowing damn well that’s not going to serve anything.
You get it? That’s all I’m saying life should be. You perfect your gift, and you share with the world for those who invite you and discover you. The ones that don’t, don’t fool with them. You’ll save yourself a lot of heartache. If you’re telling somebody what you are, then you’re going to most likely get used, but if you let somebody discover who you are, you’re going to get celebrated.
Jo: What’s one of the hardest life lessons you’ve had to learn?
Seville: The hardest one of all, was my performance versus my thinking. So here’s an example. I had a brand before this, and I had a little shop in Delaware. A customer came in and he liked the product, but while he’s liking it, I’m telling the customer about people that don’t like it that I never even met.
I was saying to him “Man, probably nobody likes this stuff anyways.” I was almost not even liking it but at the same time I’m still doing it, so imagine you’re doing something but you’re mentally not liking it. That’s like you’re fighting against yourself. God forbid if you start blaming somebody else like your parents, your boyfriend or your husband when you don’t believe in it.
If you don’t believe in yourself that hurts the most because you’re most likely to believe you before you believe anybody else. I was, again, doing the work, but not believing my work. So eventually when God showed me that, then I started believing in myself, then, through believing, along with my performance, I started seeing success.
So say the real first moment that came when I believed in myself, was the day I met you outside this year, when I first brought the brand out, and the reason why I say this is because the brand has been around for four years, but I didn’t step out on real faith until I came outside on Mother’s Day of this year and met everybody up to you, and then everybody I met after you. This is six months of me and my thinking coming together with my performance and starting to see success. Whereas somebody else performs but with bad thinking-it’s almost like they’re walking with hundred-pound weights in their hands. All you have to do is let them go, and you would walk a lot easier, a lot better and a lot faster. You’re holding all the worry and wondering and how I’m going make it instead of just letting it go and just walking with faith-then you’d be surprised what you see would happen.
That was my biggest challenge. Finally after years of getting my thinking lined up with my performance, and then once I did I started seeing success.
Jo: All right, last question: In one word, what do you think is the most important thing in life?
Seville: Love. With love, you can do anything. Love. Love, love, love. That is just the foundation of what I do and then where does that go? To everybody I meet and how I feel. It keeps you not worried, not stressed. It’s love that makes you forgive. That’s why we always say, “I love you and I trust God,” not the other way.
I don’t love God because I can’t ever love Him as much as He loves me. I can’t trust you or you trust me because then if you know somebody does something wrong and now you can’t trust them, you hold back. But if you love them, love makes you forgive and love makes you go on because you’re going to want the same thing done to you one day.
So love is my foundation.
Follow Ugly Luxury Brand on Instagram at @uglyluxurybrand and catch Selville’s stand on 116th and 8th Ave.
If you have any interview recommendations, contact me on instagram at @jonah_shh