Rising Stars: Meet Ilia Siegwald and Cortney Sims

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ilia Siegwald and Cortney Sims.

Hi Ilia and Cortney, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
We first met back in the olden days of 2012 during a life drawing class. We were in the same fashion design major and had classes together for years before becoming even closer during our junior and senior years.

By the time our senior collections were rolling around, we were getting in trouble for talking too much and sharing too many ideas that made their way into each other’s collections. We decided that meant we had something special and wanted to hone it. This, combined with our similar distaste for most corporate fashion jobs and the exclusivity of the industry, inspired us to form “coco and ilia”.

From there, we’ve shown in Kansas City Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, and our clothes have been seen on Shea Coulee, B. Simone, Shay Lyriq, Gilly Marc, Jasmine Diane, Gully Marc, Molly Alice Minx, and more. We’ve also released two full collections at this point and are working on a third plus creating upcycled thrift pieces to give old garments new life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s definitely not been smooth! Since college we’ve both had to live separately for most of the work and just living in different cities has made the process a bit complicated at times.

We’re both very accomodating and creative though, so we find ways to make things work by splitting up the work logistically and cohesively which has been really helpful. And like it is for many artists we fund ourselves 99% of the time so that means we spend a lot of time also working full-time jobs or side hustles to give life to the dream.

And that’s not even mentioning the pandemic which brought a whole slaught of new issues with it!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are currently doing three things: We design a made-to-order high-end streetwear collection inspired by one of our more elaborate concepts, we’re upcycling old thrift pieces to give them a new purpose, and we’re also working on a pair of gloves that we’re so excited to release.

We specialize in a lot of campy and kitschy design – we really admire well-crafted couture pieces and try to find ways to emulate that through our own collections while also being conscientious of our price point and target market. We’re known for taking two conflicting, contradicting, or simply confusing concepts and meshing them together seamlessly. We love to subvert expectations with fabric usage or style inspirations. Fashion is fun for us and we try not to forget that. This is something that definitely makes us stand out, as well as our continued commitment to being more inclusive every chance we get.

We’re incredibly proud of our tangible successes like showing at fashion shows, or working with artists we admire – but more importantly, we’re really proud of our relationship working together and how there’s no ego involved. We genuinely enjoy collaborating and always try to find space for each other’s ideas and trust each other’s gut when it comes down to it. Additionally, we’re also willing to try new things, learn new things, and experience new things in terms of construction technique, design, and relationships in general.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
Although we are a team of two there are so many people who have helped us out along the way, we honestly couldn’t even think of all of them. But we’re happy to have been able to work with so many talented people.

Taylor Brown, who helped us with public relations, Brianna Jackson, who helped us with marketing, Rachel Cooper who assists time and time again with marketing and feedback, Kyla Cherry, one of the absolute best stylists, and Colby Elliott, another outstanding inspiring stylist.

We’ve had some consistent models who we know are always excited and supportive like Chandler Estelle, Taylor Bronson, Bella Fernandez, and Andrea Vargas just to name a few. Our favorite photographers to work with who are always down to collaborate or pull from us are Steven Green, Ryan Swartzlander, Loki Wilson, and Kylie Shaw. We’ve also received a lot of community support from the FAM Collective here in Kansas City, they’ve been really amazing to witness and work with.

And that’s just our fashion team! Our family members like Rance Sims, and Sean Waldrop are a huge system of support and encouragement. Along with immediate family members for Ilia: Terry, John, James, and Kristin Siegwald we have a lot of love and solace that we rely on.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: cocoandilia.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocoandilia/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cocoandilia

Image Credits
AJ Ali, Steven Green, Chandler Estelle, Ashley Photographer, Loki Wilson, Sandy Evangelista, Marcella DePaola, Jazzmine Carthon, Emma Wolfe, Meagan Brody, Alejandra Corremaldo, Cortney Sims, Taylor Bronson, Blake Aghili, Cle’era Hollingsworth, and Blake Aghili