Following up on Couture to the Max, at just four years old, Max Alexander announced to the world that he planned on becoming a dressmaker. Without much warning to his mother, Sherri Madison, Max began to create designs that gained the traction of celebrities, and his designs have gone viral on social media.
Now, at just seven years old, Max is selling his designs internationally, creating dresses about once a week and continuing to grow his impressive line of clothing.
This past month, Max’s Couture to the Max line was featured at Denver Fashion Week, Colorado’s largest fashion event. Max’s dresses not only were brilliant and eye-catching at the event, but he also dedicated his designs to benefit the Hawaii Community Foundation. One of Max’s designs for the event, a bright orange dress with tiered feathered accents and bursts of yellow, can be seen on Max’s instagram, along with many of his other designs.
“We have shared with Max the importance of giving back and are so proud of his decision to share his success with those in need. Max has decided to sell one of his most popular dresses from his @denverfashionweek show with all proceeds going to benefit the Hawaii Community Foundation,” it states on Max’s instagram account, which is run by his mother.
From the beginning, Max explained that his decision to start making clothing was something that just happened. He just felt drawn to the idea of making clothes, and his mother, an artist who works with mediums such as cardboard, decided to make him a mannequin to get him started with his sudden fashion interest. “It was an instant connection,” said Max over a zoom interview.
“It was just one night, it just happened one night. He said I’m a dressmaker,” Madison said in that same interview.
According to Max, he spends “kind of a lot” of time making his designs, and it shows. The young prodigy designer has been busy these past few years making designs for celebrities and brands all over the world, and Max spends about 30 minutes a day making designs, however when he isn’t creating clothing, he spends a lot of his time playing on piano and cooking. Max’s current favorite thing to cook, he told us Saturday, is mushrooms with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano.
Max has worked with a lot of celebrities his favorite so far is American actress Sharon Stone, who commissioned Max to design and sew a fabulous winter coat. The design, which featured a thick faux fur fabric and silver angel wings on the shoulders, really proved to be a gorgeous design created by the kid fashion designer.
“It was a creamy jacket,” Max said about the coat he made for Sharon. “It had feathered wings! I just thought of it. Normally I just say, ‘I know!”
Although Max is just starting his career, he has already had several “once in a lifetime” opportunities to let the world know what he is doing and about his designs. About a year ago, Max had the opportunity to be on Good Morning America, where he discussed his designs on live TV. According to Max, his favorite part of the experience was being able to visit New York. When visiting Manhattan, Max was able to do things like see the empire state building, visit his favorite toy store and see The Lion King on Broadway. Max, being the designing genius he is, took inspiration from all aspects of his trip, but especially from the fashion designs.
For Max, his dream collaboration would be with Fashion Designer Guccio Gucci, Max has said in several interviews that Gucci could have been him in a past life.
As Max is still growing, learning and navigating the fashion world, he is expressing interests in learning new skills as he gets older. Max loves cooking right now, and although he does not plan on leaving the fashion industry any time soon, he is taking the time to be a kid and explore the world from a seven year old with a deep love and appreciation for the arts.
-Grace Braswell
