All photography in this story by Jana Schuessler. Christine Alcalay wearing her designs.

The Notorious B.I.G. once said the catchy phrase, ‘Spread love, it’s the Brooklyn Way’... and what better way to spread love than by honoring creatives such as fashion designer Christine Alcalay, whose career in fashion began right next to her mother and her sewing machine when she was just three years old. 
“I owe so much to my experience as a child and without it, I wouldn’t be who I am today,” she said. “I came to the United States with my mom at the age of three when we escaped Vietnam in the middle of the night on a boat promising freedom and opportunity.” 
Alcalay and her mother were the lucky ones, as many people never made it to see land. Upon their arrival in Manhattan, she and her mother had nothing but a bag of dreams and the will to survive. She mentioned her mother worked in factories, in which she tagged along, cutting threads and assisting her with anything she needed wher...