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The Maroon Page 5 May 11997/ Masters of Design ou've seen his pieces in Xanadu and Armaged don. And who couldn't help but see that sistah with the blond blowout wig at Underground Live, wearing the wrapped skirt and knitted top? Is she out of con trol or what? I decided to find out for myself and soon discovered that both of them — William Gilbert and Whitney Mero — are younger than you would believe. (He’s twenty-one, and she's eighteen.) And no, she is not a diva — like the other Whitney— and neither is he. On any given day, you'd probably find him at Kinko's in Buckhead, a favorite networking hang-out of his. Or you've probably seen Whitney, a Freshman So ciology/Pre-Med major, around cam pus, crocheting one of her signature hal ter tops. "I've been hellbent on making some thing that looks good for black women — big hips, big ass, small to medium waists," she insists. "Just the black girl's figure." But what about the brothers? "What about us?" I ask her. "I would hook the brothers up," she says, laughing and blushing at the com ment. "But I don't think I could be as creative with them. I wouldn't know where to start." Luckily, that's not a dilemma for Wil liam Gilbert, who is mainly a men's clothier, although he recently intro duced women's apparel into his line. A student at Bauder College, he began his design career while modeling after giv ing up a baseball scholarship at a small, Christian junior college. "Man, they had too many curfews," he recalls humor ously. "I used to go to fashion shows and see other people's work. But I never did see men's clothes," he continues. "And "I've been hellbent on making something that looks good for black women --big hips, big ass, small to medium waists. Just the black girl's figure." when I did see menswear, I knew I could do better than that. I just started, and it took me a while." Of course, both William and Whitney are not without their share of issues with the fashion industry (i.e. the commer cialism, stereotyping, politics, etc.). "You have certain big names out there, and those are the people who are mo nopolizing everything," she explains. "It’s ridiculous when a T-shirt with Calvin Klein on it is costing $40 . . . But you look at the art, and it’s not art any more. It's just the name." "They [some people] think more men in the fashion industry are kind of femi nine," Gilbert says of a widely-known misconception. "That's one thing I'm not. I don't mind working with them [homosexuals], but to each his own." "The other thing is when people take your idea and say they created it. And it's not from younger people. It’s the by rodney b. gabriel contributing writer Whitney Mew older ones," he says of past incidents with other Atlanta designers. In the future, Gilbert hopes to do "movies, acting — stuff like that. Pro duction. I'm like Quincy Jones. I want to do it all." Lately, Gilbert has caught the eye of SoSoDef and LaFace Records. Does that mean clothing Toni Braxton? (Less we forget that dress at the AMAs.) "I want to do her gown for the next Grammy Awards. That's one of my projects I'm trying to do now," he says. "So I'm try ing to talk to them now to let me do it. If tlaey like it, that's wonderful. If they don’t, I know I just tried." Within the next five years, Whitney sees laerself at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. But currently, she tries balancing scliool with her or ders as soon as they come in. "I can be cocky as hell," she admits. "I can be like 'Do you know who I am?' But I try to be humble. Sometimes, it doesn't work, but with my clothes, I have to be because they are so much I greater than I am . . . They’ll be here af ter I’m gone." NOTE: For more details William Gilbert’s clothing line, call (770) 593- 3802. Info on apparel by Whitney Mero can be obtained at (770) 753-0472.