Rachel Fenderson

Rachel Fenderson was born and raised in Queens, New York, to Jamaican parents. During her youth, she worked hard as a student all the while being drawn to fabrics, design, and creation. This dichotomy at times would be a thorn, sometimes a stepping-stone, and ultimately the key to Fenderson’s success. In 2002, Fenderson pursued a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature at Hofstra University. Next, Fenderson set her sights on attending Parsons The New School for Design and completed a Fashion Studies, Applied Associates Science degree of Fashion Design in 2008. On January 1, 2011, Rachel Fenderson and her sister Marshea Fenderson, founded a womenswear company monikered: Pepper Jacques.   By 2016, Fenderson decided to fully immerse her life and world into fashion by furthering her education at Parsons Paris, The New School for Design in Paris, France. In May 2018, Fenderson successfully defended her Master’s thesis: “JAY JAXON: A Biographical Study and Media Discourse Analysis Reinstating A Designer Into Fashion History.” Pursuing this degree gave her the opportunity to write the first biographical thesis study on the designer Jay Jaxon, with a foundation rich in investigatory research and critical analysis. Fenderson displayed her first exhibition on Jaxon at the Mona Bismarck in Paris (2018). August 2019, Rachel will release an exhibition honoring the life and fashion historical contributions of Jay Jaxon at the Queens Public Library. For the 50th Anniv. of Jay Jaxon’s historical Couturier role, Fenderson will exhibit his work, at the Queens Historical Society in February 2020.