Kevwe Mowarin has always loved fashion — she just never expected to pursue a career in it. After studying finance in college, she accepted a job as an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse in Manhattan upon graduation in the summer of 2016. Ironically, it was there, during her 80 to 100-hour office-bound workweeks, where a bud of creativity began to blossom in her head, pulling her in a very different professional direction. “I had to wear suits every day and wanted to get one I would love but everywhere I went I was finding that the jacket arm length was too small or the pants didn’t fit,” the 23-year-old tells Teen Vogue. “I asked my female coworkers where they got theirs and they told me they were custom. I looked, but I couldn’t find a tailor anywhere in New York that specializes in custom suits for women. That’s where the idea for Koviem started.”
At first, Kevwe was designing suits only for herself, drawing out silhouettes, selecting fabrics, and having them made in New York City. But once her female coworkers and friends started to take notice of her co-ords, the inquiries began rolling in. “It just spread by word of mouth. If you needed a suit, you could come to me for an official consultation. I loved it, the passion is what drove me to do it,” remembers Kevwe, who was balancing her fledgling business with her demanding full-time job. Along with the passion was the timing; the Koviem brand was conceptualized during the 2016 presidential campaign, when the pantsuit took on an important new meaning. It became a sartorial symbol of strength, perseverance, resistance, feminism, equality, hope, progress. “I think [the] election is what made me decide to launch when I did,” says Kevwe. “I wanted to provide women with something that would make them feel like they could take on the world. I don’t think there’s any other piece of clothing that makes you feel more powerful than a pantsuit.”