Shine On: Meet Jazmine Fischer-Veal

Jazmine Fischer-Veal has been sewing since she was 5 — but finally felt validated as a fashion designer when she debuted her Gemini collection at New York Fashion Week in fall 2025.

“Seeing those be well-received, quickly I was like, OK, this is where I’m supposed to be,” she says. “Beside my family, of course, and God, fashion is my heart.”

Her son and husband are Geminis, so she was inspired by the astrological sign for a collection of 15 Asian-influenced looks. “It was about the duality between good and evil, heaven and hell, yin and yang,” Fischer-Veal says. “It was about these twin outfits, men and women, kind of opposite.”

The collection includes a V-neck dress with snakeskin print in the middle and long, flowy liquid satin on the sides, topped with a vest featuring a gold-and-black dragon print brocade with an extended zipper and ribbed trim, reminiscent of a bomber jacket. A men’s look features a track suit made of a burnout brocade accented by red, gold and black crystals matching the fabric’s hues and highlighting its sheer panels — rare in menswear. Fischer-Veal graduated from Kent State University with a fashion design degree and interned at Wrath Arcade menswear in Cleveland. Afterward, she did alterations, worked at a bridal shop and dry cleaners, taught kids sewing through Urban Ounce of Prevention and designed for Just Funky, which produced anime wear for Hot Topic and Spencer’s. For the past seven years, she’s been an Akron firefighter and also works as a Rittman firefighter. She does fashion on the side, designing prom dresses and runway collections.

In February, Fischer-Veal returned to New York Fashion Week with a new 17-look collection, Aquarius, inspired by growing up with Asian influences.

“In my house, we had kimonos and samurai swords as decorative art and statues,” she says. “I was also heavily into anime. It’s an outlet for me.”

Her Aquarius collection has four sections of similar designs that span mostly cool colors, starting with black and white. For the first look, she cut out grayscale pagoda fabric pieces for a 3D aesthetic and attached them to a black knit shirt with shoulder cutouts, pairing it with billowy sheer black flared pants.

“I have these panels that come off the back of the pants,” she says. “The flowiness is kind of like how a koi fish — you see their fins fly back in those different shapes.”

A men’s white jacket with a grayscale print features pagodas, bonsais and an orange sun, along with crystal embellishments and linear frog closures.

A purple section presents a fitted dress highlighting two shades of purple brocade and a princess neckline with slanted frog closures, as well as a sunset men’s tracksuit with a midriff-baring two-way zipper and crystal embellishments. A blue section showcases a romantic blue dress featuring a corseted bodice with ombre accordion fabric that flutters out at the top and is sheer on the bottom. Crafted from a see-through blue sequin embroidery fabric, a breathtaking samurai bodysuit has epaulettes on the shoulders, a mandarin collar and fluid flared pants. A men’s blue look has a flowy sheer long dress shirt and a quilted blue-and-silver Asian brocade jacket and pants set with handmade details.

“I backed it with a cotton backing and sewed every single line to get that quilted look,” Fischer-Veal says. The collection ends with a kimono-inspired wedding dress made from a beautiful brocade with cranes. One side has a long kimono sleeve while the other has an off-the-shoulder sleeve. It simply closes with three hooks and eyes, creating a high, daring slit.

She debuted Aquarius locally at Experience: the Runway from New York to Akron, a sold-out Akron fashion show she organized in March featuring seven additional regional designers.

“[It] was really awesome that I got to bring an art form that is not seen so much in Akron,” she says. Fischer-Veal plans to do an Akron show next year and sell her pieces online — as well as continue to sell them in the Northside Marketplace. Fashion drives her.

“I love to be able to express what I feel, I think, on garments, on clothing, on bodies,” she says. “It’s fun to see your sketches come alive.” //KP

byjazminefischer.com