Manny Cuevas: Fashioner Designer to the Stars

Manny Cuevas was born into fashion design royalty. He began working with his father – the world-renown designer Manuel – at the age of 6, designing for and dressing everyone from American Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and both George Bushes – to music royalty such as Liberace, Johnny Cash, The Rat Pack Elite, John Lennon, Dolly Parton, Roy Rogers, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Jackson Five, David Lee Roth, Kid Rock, Jack White, and Kenny Chesney – to Hollywood icons like Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Jack Nicholson, John Travolta, and Sylvester Stallone, to name a few.

After being approached in 2006 by Alan Tucker (who helped Calvin Klein create and launch the Calvin Klein brand) about creating a ready-to-wear line, Manny has developed into a global fashion force of his own. He's headlined fashioned weeks in New York and Mexico City, and his signature clothing line, Wear it Out by Manny, can be found in stores and boutiques around the globe. And Manny himself designed the suit that Johnny Cash was laid to rest in.

Episode Highlights

Step into the vibrant world of fashion as we sit down with Manny Cuevas, the formidable designer who's stitched his legacy into the very fabric of the industry. Growing up amidst the swirl of his father Manuel's tailor shop, Manny's tale is woven with the golden threads of heritage and innovation. From the eclectic celebrity clientele of his youth to the birth of his own label, Wear It Out by Manny, we explore the symphony of style and music that's danced through his career, especially the beat of change that came with his move to the heart of Nashville.

We trace the footsteps of his journey as he crafts limited edition lines, fusing the exclusivity of couture with the reach of ready-to-wear. But it's not just about the glitz of the garments; Manny gets real about the hustle it takes to raise $8.9 million, storm New York Fashion Week, and the rush of seeing his designs sell like hotcakes in the aftermath. His story isn't just a lesson in style‚ it's a masterclass in turning dreams into tangible triumphs.

As we wrap up, Manny's passion for design unfurls like the finest silk, revealing a philosophy that's as personal as it is professional. He imparts wisdom to budding designers, reflecting on moments that marked his career‚ like Bob Dylan's Vatican performance and the shine of a lifetime achievement award. But it's the intimate memories, the blend of art and celebrity from his father's shop, and the solid foundation of support that truly dress the soul of this episode. Join us, and let Manny Cuevas tailor an experience that will leave you inspired, informed, and immeasurably enriched by the threads that connect us all.

We cover a ton of cool topics in this extended episode including:

• Getting started in his dad's shop at the age of 6 by digging leather scraps out of the trash and sewing them together

• Working with Country Music elite like Johhny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Little Jimmy Dickens, Marty Robbins, and Porter Wagoner 

• Being bounced on the knees of Salvador Dali as a child

• When major designer labels knock off your designs

• Being mentored by Alan Tucker, co-creator of Calvin Klein

• How taking big, unheard-of risks paid off in big ways headlining fashion weeks in New York and Mexico City

• Working in the shadow of his father, legendary fashion icon Manuel, and the challenge of making a name for himself

• Designing Bob Dylan's stage outfit for his concert in front of the Pope at the Vatican

• A run-in with Sylvester Stallone as a kid

• Learning lessons about how a man should talk to a woman by watching Ronald speak to Nancy Reagan...and SO much more!

Listen

Read the Complete Transcript

Shane

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the official Live2cre8 podcast, coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee. I am your host, Shane Almgren, and I am joined today, also from Nashville, by fashion designer Manny Cuevas. Manny was born into a fashion design household, helping his renowned father, Manuel, design for and dress everyone from American presidents to music royalties such as Liberace, Johnny Cash, the Rat Pack elite, John Lennon, Dolly Parton, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Jackson Five, Kid Rock, Jack White, and Kenny Chesney, just to name a few. Manny has headlined fashion weeks in New York and Mexico City, and his clothing line, Wear It Out by Manny, can be found in stores and boutiques around the globe.

Manny, it's great to have you here. Very glad that you could make it.

Manny Cuevas

I'm very happy to be a part of this thing, and it's awesome to see this whole thing coming together with all these incredible creative folks. What excitement to see this growing here in our incredible, beautiful Music City, USA!

Shane

Now, has Music City, USA, always been your home?

Manny Cuevas

No, no, Nashville has not always been my home. I'm originally from North Hollywood, California—the West Coast, Southern California. My father is Manuel Cuevas, who is fairly well known as a costume designer in the country music industry. My background growing up in Southern California was, literally, every day after school I would show up to my dad's studio shop and sweep the floor, take the trash out, look over the shoulders of the employees, and watch these artisans do their work, until one or two of them would brush me away and say, “Go play with something sharp and cut yourself, so you don't have to come back for a couple of days. Leave me alone. “ [Laughs].

Shane

Was showing up—was that something your dad made you do because he wanted the kids working at the shop, or did you know that was something you wanted to do, and you just wanted to be a part of it?

Manny Cuevas

It was something that just came natural. It was never a pressure. I just always ended up at my dad's shop just after school. I'd sit around, and I would watch the employees putting together these incredible garments, shoes, boots, belts, and eventually, one day, out of the blue, I started pulling the leather scraps out of the trash. I started coming over to the workstation and would grab some of the tools and start pounding away real hard. The bootmaker would come over and be like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, boy. Wait a minute, son. This is not the way you do it. This is the way you should hold your tool. This is the way you should use your mallet as you're pounding away.”

The majority of everything that I had learned in my lifetime so far had all been monkey see, monkey do. I like to say that I was forcefully bred into the business, not knowing the talents that I had, obviously, you know. I just didn't know it, but I had the comfort and the support of our bootmaker. That just really nurtured me, and that was the start of everything, honestly. Working with leather was the beginning of it all. Sitting down on an industrial sewing machine and an industrial leather sewing machine is so—it makes it a lot more easier to do intricate turns and be very ornate. That was the way I learned how to run a sewing machine. I sat down at the leather sewing machine and just started going to town. I basically traced a lot of my drawings that I would have and put them together and just would come up with these incredible little knickknacks from scraps, and, you know, one thing led to another. I started creating little wallets, and I started helping out more on belts and the assembly of certain things. I had hands on quite a bit of things, not knowing what I was really doing, but I definitely was adding to the artistry and craftsmanship of everything that was going on in the studio.

My father catered to so many people while being there in Hollywood. We catered to actors, actresses. The biggest part of the music industry that my dad catered to is definitely the country music industry. Now, don't get me wrong. He catered to people in the rock and roll industry and the blues industry a little bit all over, but mainly in the country music industry. I had seen every person you could think of from the ‘70s on, from Johnny Cash to Waylon Jennings, Little Jimmy Dickens, Porter Wagoner, Marty Robbins. I mean, good gosh, you name it. I've probably seen a great handful of the country music industry walk in and out of my dad's business throughout my lifetime. Now don't get me wrong too. I've also sat down with Marlon Brando, and I had the great honor of being bounced on the knee by Salvador Dali while he was twisting his mustache.

Shane

How does one do that, Manny? What's the backstory there?

Manny Cuevas

[Laughs]. It was unbelievable. I think, in looking back at it now, I believe that, being my father's only son, it gave him more availability to have me around him and drag me around to the fittings, and to the bars, and to the showcases. I think he might have felt a little bit more comfortable because I was a young boy, and he was just—you know, it was a lot of monkey see, monkey do, you know? And here I am today, you know. I relocated my father's business, Manuel, in 1991 from Southern California to Nashville, Tennessee. So I've been here in Nashville for a little bit over 25 years. You know, it was a bit of a culture shock at the very beginning, when I first came.

Shane

Yeah, I can imagine.

Manny Cuevas

I had prepared myself for it. I was pretty much ready for a change, to be honest, from Southern California. You know, I stepped away from working at the shop and kind of doing the tours later on in my younger life, like when I was in high school, I kind of stepped away for a while, and when I graduated high school, that's when my father actually asked me to get involved, you know, 100 percent.

Shane

Yeah, that was what I was about to ask you: When did he notice that you had the talent to actually contribute to what he was doing?

Manny Cuevas

You know, I'll tell you that throughout my lifetime, even as a young boy—I mean, good gosh—I started sewing on the sewing machine, and by the age of six, I was running every machine in my dad's studio by myself. On top of that, Manuel would ask me to draw florals, abstracts, you know, just all kinds of different things, animals, you name it. I drew so many different things, and of course, not until my dad really asked me to become part of his business right after I got out of high school in ’90. I think that was really kind of my own personal eye-opener, realizing, gosh, man, I might have an incredible gift that I could contribute to this family business. And I went ahead, and I just jumped in with both feet, and, you know, my old man kind of let me run the business for a while. He had relocated my stepmother and my youngest sister to Nashville in 1989, you know, so from that year—from ‘90 to about just in ‘91—March of ‘91 is when we relocated the business from Southern California to Nashville.

Shane

And was that just for the music industry?

Manny Cuevas

Yeah, you know, it really was. You know, it was interesting. I had had the conversation with my father for many years and asked him why he had never bought property in Nashville, you know. He’d been commuting to Nashville for, good gosh, already 30 some years of his lifetime so far, catering to the industry, you know, by coming here and dressing people and delivering the wardrobe. But, you know, people were always accustomed to coming to Hollywood to see him.

So the way it all came together was pretty interesting. I'll tell you that. I watched my father travel for, you know, that first year working with him. I saw him travel quite a bit. His business was changing. The format was changing. He relocated his wife and my youngest sister to Nashville, and he kind of left me in charge of the whole deal. I pretty much became kind of like the business administrator. I felt like I knew the creative side of the business. I'd finally realized and noticed that a lot of the design, a lot of the drawings that I did, were incorporated into my father's work, which really put me on a pedestal. You know, just to see some of my works, I want to say, that were incorporated—you know, collaborations, I think, is the proper word to use. The collaboration of some of my florals and my abstracts that my dad possibly took and recreated his own little spin. But I could see my taste and feel my taste being thrown in there. So it was really cool, you know, and not until we actually got to Nashville did it really, really, really hit me 100 percent.

I thought I had already known quite a bit. But when we moved to Nashville, that was it. It was on. I'll tell you. It was an incredible time for the move. You know, I sat down with my father, and I told him, “You know, I've got a plan. You know, I want to see—you know, I want to move this business.” And he said, “Well, heck, talk to the employees and see what you could put together.” So I went ahead and did. I sat the employees down and told them what my plan was and kind of my vision, and everybody kind of put their senses together and said, “We want to do the move with you.”

Shane

So you guys brought over the whole crew, the whole store, from Southern California?

Manny Cuevas

Oh, yeah, from Southern California, we ended up leaving with five families following us. We rented a 46-foot Ryder rental truck, and we loaded every last thimble, needle, and thread—my dad's whole business—into this truck. And right behind us, five families traveled behind us from Southern California with their own rental trucks, and their homes packed up, and their vehicles, and their children.

Shane

That sounds like one of those Old West, covered wagon—the whole town moves. Only you guys were coming east instead of going west.

Manny Cuevas

I'll tell you what. That was absolutely the vision that I had in my head as we were driving across. No lie. I remember stopping in the Painted Desert and letting everybody kind of captivate the wind, the sounds of the wind, and the color of the sky—the way it hits that desert there's just unbelievable. It was magical. And no lie, with what you just described, that's exactly what I had envisioned into my head at that moment while we were there.

It was like if we could have just sent ourselves back, just a little bit further back in time, that's exactly what it would have looked like. It would have looked like we had several chuck wagons rolling and a bunch of just Westerners coming to the East to invade. We got here. We got to Nashville. I was so excited to be here. That actual day, that afternoon, I insisted on starting to unload the truck, and the people—the workers—were like, “This is unbelievable. This is crazy, man.” They're like, “Let's do it,” and we did it. We unloaded the truck that day, and by the end of the week, we had everything set up in the store, and we were working. It was one of the most incredible times of my life, I will say. I'll tell you that, in the first three months, my father's business grew about—almost to 300 percent, and good gosh, by —

Shane

— Did your reputation just precede you to town?

Manny Cuevas

Oh, immensely. I mean, when we got to town, it was like the whole music industry went a little crazy, finally knowing that Manuel had relocated here. So there was a big hype with that.

Shane

Were you guys over on Music Row or close to it?

Manny Cuevas

Yes, we were. We were right on Broadway and 20th. There was a lot of great excitement going on. The times were different. The music industry was completely different than what it is right now. There were huge budgets for artists going into the signing deals. These artists that were being signed at that time had huge budgets for wardrobe, for travel. It was just wonderful.

So that's what ended up happening, and I'll tell you that, into my second year being here, Manuel and I started kind of talking about the artisans that had been working with my father, from hat builders to bootmakers to the silversmiths that we would use. And I said to my father—I said, “You know, a lot of these independent designers that collaborate with us and work with us actually produce collections.” I really got interested in wanting to know more about that. You know, how is it that these people were doing it? My father said, “Listen, man, the biggest American lifestyle trade show that happens happens in Denver, and it happens twice a year.” And he says, “A lot of these people that you're asking about go there and show there.” And I said, “Well, have you ever been?” He says, “I've never been.” He says, “You know, I've been invited a lot of times to go and hang out, but I've never been.”

The show is called the WESA Show, and WESA stands for the Western English Sales Association. It has everything from home furnishings to tractor trailers—you name it—jewelry, anything and everything, from apparel to lifestyle living, and all kinds of artisans now. All the major brands that you could possibly think of are selling garments there. So it's really targeted for Western.

So we ended up going. We ended up going for three days to kind of hang out and visit with friends and check out the show, and I remember I made three different outfits to wear for every day, which were completely different. I made a different pair of boots that I wore. I wore a different buckle set, a different belt, different jewelry, different coat—just everything was different out of the three days.

Going into the second day that we were there, one of the vendors sat me down and said, “Look, man, you know, if you want to come back in January and bring some of your product, we wouldn't mind hanging it up in our showroom, and, you know, if people ask about it, heck, you know, we'll just give them your name and your number and have them give you a shout, and you take it from there and see what happens.” So it was really exciting. You know, I got that offer from a couple of artisan people that we had collaborated with, you know, with very well recognized brands like, good gosh, you know, the Lucchese Boot Company, Justin Boot Company, the Bohlin silversmiths, Gist Silversmiths—you know, just a bunch of incredible artisans that I've seen traveling in and out of my father's business through my whole young lifetime at that point.

So I decided to come back next year in January with my father, and this time we're going to do the whole seven-day-show trip. We're going to come and really check it out and see how it goes down. And we ended up coming back in January to check out the show. I ended up bringing probably just a little bit over a dozen Western shirts. You know, at that time, I was selling the Western shirts here in Nashville for, good gosh, $475 or $485. I couldn't hold them in stock here in Nashville, and every single one was different, was all one of a kind. So I took these dozen shirts with me, and I hung them up in a couple of the showrooms where I was given the opportunity to do so, and by the second day of the show, I had already sold every freaking shirt.

And here my father and I are walking the halls of the trade show, and Manuel notices kind of something going on with me. He says, “Hey, you know, what's up? What's on your mind?” And I said, “Ah, nothing.” And he said, “There's something going on with you.” He said, “You know, what is it?” And I said, “Nothing, pop.” I said, “Let's just, you know—stop bugging me. Come on, let's keep walking.” And he said, “No, no, no, no.” He said, “Let's sit down and talk.” I said, “All right. What the heck?” So there we are. We're sitting down, and the conversation starts off.

He says, “You know, what is it? Something is on your mind, and something is bugging you. What's up?” And I said, “Look, pop. Have you noticed that the stuff, the clothes that we were wearing just, maybe, you know, in September, at the last show? Have you noticed that some of these brands that know us, that know who we are, that, I mean, have relationships with us—they've knocked us off, like my boots are now sitting in a Lucchese fricking showroom? Some of the stitches are a little different, but that's my fricking boot that I had on, that I created, that I wore just a couple of months ago.” and I said, “You know, our shirts, our suits.” And I'll tell you, still to this day, you know, my old man has never—more than anything, it’s our culture. You know, being Hispanic, Latin, Mexican, you know, it's very macho for a father to ever tell his son that he's proud of him, you know, or anything. So, honestly, you know, there's never been a day in my 43 years of living that my father's ever told me that he's proud of me—ever. And this day, in some of the words, he pretty much said it himself. He put me on the biggest pedestal that I had ever been on in my life.

That's where the whole other phase of my life began, and sitting there, you know, he stood up, and he said, Listen, son.” He says, “I've seen you working this thing for the last year, two years.” And he says, “And there is—you have a real, very special gift that I believe you really don't know you have quite yet.” He says, “You're getting grasp a of it, but you're just not quite sure of it yet. He said, “But let me tell you, son.” He says, “You're 10 steps ahead of all these clowns.” And he says, “And the most—one of the most gratifying things in life is people knocking you off.”

And at that moment, I'll tell you, my dad, he put me on that pedestal without telling me he was proud of what I was doing with his business and what the heck I was doing. You know, he was just—he made me shine like I'd never shined before, and boom, you know, it really hit me. It hit homerun, and I thought, wow, you know, he's giving me some incredible piece of his own wisdom and his own experience, and, man, I just need to keep running with it.

And I'll tell you that that day, the trade show closes down at about 5:30 or 6:00.

Well, that day, right when the show was closing, my father and I were coming down the escalator, and when we landed on the main floor, coming off the escalator, a gentleman came up to me and introduced himself to me, and he said, “You're Manny Cuevas, right?” And I said, “Yes, sir,” and he said, “I'd really like to talk to you right quick.” And I said, “Okay.” And there I went and stood there with the man and talked to him for about 10 minutes, and he said, “I am blown away by what I've seen and what I know, and I want to know more. I want to go into business with you. I want to start a ready-to-wear line, and I want to do it with you.”

Shane

Did you know this guy from Adam?

Manny Cuevas

No, I had no idea who this guy was, and I'll be darned. I will be darned. Shoot, man. Two and a half, three weeks later, we were signing a contract, and, you know, I was licensing the family name, the Manuel Brand, for the very first time ever.

Shane

So hold on, hold on, hold on back up. You just jumped. You just jumped forward a couple weeks. What was your first thought when he said, “I want to go into business with you,” and you didn't know this guy?

Manny Cuevas

You know, looking at being there at the trade show for the second time and hearing the words that my old man had told me earlier that morning, it was like freaking wildfire. Everything—I mean, my imagination was exploding. I was blown away by even listening to these words. I was like, okay, I mean, I didn't know what to expect. My dad said, “Well, heck, you know, just play it out. Play it by ear and see how it goes.” And that's how it happened, really. I mean, a couple weeks later, my father and I were flying out to Southern California and sitting with this man and putting a contract together, and, gosh, the minute the contract was signed and executed, I jumped all over it. You know, so I went ahead, and I put, you know, part of the team together, of the original artisans that worked for my father for many moons, and we opened up our own facility and started building everything under our own roof.

Shane

Now, was that back out in California again, or was that also here in Nashville?

Manny Cuevas

No, that was all in California. I started manufacturing everything in Southern California, and, you know, basically, what I did was I took reminiscences of things—of iconic images and clothing, you know, garments that I had seen that my father had done—and incorporated it into these collections, and it just—man, it took off. I mean, heck. Another six months later on, we were back in Denver, showing at the WESA show for the very first time, the next following September, and business just exploded on a different end. You know, I started doing ready-to-wear. Everything that I was doing—really, I kind of started creating my own model. I started creating limited-edition collections. You know, once the collection was sold out, I would go on, and I would create something else that was one of a kind, and then, you know, it became so everybody wanted it. It became a commodity, and everybody wanted it.

So what I ended up doing then was really making it even more exclusive by numbering the pieces. I ended up making some exclusive pieces where I would only make at most 100 pieces, you know, all numbered. I also, from the very beginning of the production of the apparel, used all the same raw materials that we would use in our couture business that my father would use for all his clientele. So there was a marriage. There was an understanding that this was—you know, it was ready-to-wear. You know, I mean, it looked very similar to the custom pieces, but the price point was completely different. Obviously, the ready-to-wear was a lot more accessible than the couture pieces, and I found myself in a niche that I never even thought I would enjoy, and I really enjoyed it.

I did it for about a good six, seven years. You know, my business partner, the gentleman that approached me that was my business partner for those years, kind of started going—you know, he started going a different path. So I pulled the licensing from him. So several years passed, and in 2005, I was approached by a gentleman out of Texas by the name of Allen Tucker, and Allen Tucker was an incredible person. He started Calvin Klein with Calvin Klein, and he got a glimpse of my work, of our work. This man was like, “I've seen some of your work, and it's just been blowing me away. I want to see how you and your father collaborate and where you guys do your work.”

So the guy came to Nashville and spent a week with my father and I, and literally, on Friday of that week, at the end of the day, he sat my old man down, and he said, “Listen, Manuel,” he says, “I want to take your son under my wing, and I want to teach him, you know, what I've done in the last 40 years of my life in the high fashion industry.”

Shane

The co-founder of Calvin Klein is saying this to him?

Manny Cuevas

Yeah, my old man looked at me and looked at him and looked at me again and looked at him, and he said, “Listen, man, he's a grown, young boy. He could do whatever the heck he wants. If he wants to take off with you and go do some things with you, then you guys go have fun.” And literally, that's how it happened. That following Monday morning, I was on a plane, first class, from Nashville to Dallas, and in Dallas, Allen jumped on the plane, and from Dallas to New York, we flew first class, and from New York, Allen Tucker took me to Europe for the very first time in my life. And the very first place he took me to was Florence, Italy, and it was unbelievable, man. It was unbelievable. He took me to Florence, Italy, for about a good week and a half.

Shane

Did you sip some wine on the Ponta Vecchio there?

Manny Cuevas

Oh, my goodness, man. You talk about inspiration, but he was unbelievable. He started educating me on the fashion houses and the design houses and how they work, and he said, “You know what I'm educating you on right now?” He said, “What I want you to do is: I want you to buy things. I want you to buy things that inspire you.” So there we were, in Florence, Italy, for a good week and a half. The second place he takes me to is Milan for another week. From Milan, he takes me to Paris for a good week and a half, and the last place he takes me to is London.

And when we're in London, I end up walking into a Gucci store—I'm sorry, a Louis Vuitton store—and I'm in there for, give or take, about a good 45 minutes. And my experience in those 45 minutes is—they’d just come up with this, what they called a hobo bag, which is basically a—it's like a horse feed bag, and I saw them sell 12 of these freaking bags. Now, the big bags—some of them were made out of, like, multi-colored Python. They were freaking $23,000. I mean, I had to have seen 3 or 4 of those freaking bags walk out in those 45 minutes. But again, I saw 12 of these bags walk out of there, and here I am grabbing a medium-sized bag, and purchasing it, and walking out of the store.

Allen Tucker sits me down, and he says, “Hey, boy, here, smoke a cigarette.” He's handing me a Marlboro menthol, and I said, “I don't smoke.” He said, “Well, you're going to start smoking.” And he says, “Tell me something.” He says, “I've taken you to some of the most incredible, iconic fashion areas of the world, and I've told you to shop, and I've seen you writing notes down throughout this whole trip.” And he says, “And here we are in London, and you buy a fucking purse.” He says, “What is this?” He said, ‘What is this shit all about?” And I said, “Allen.” I said, “This is it.” I said, “Listen to me.” I said, “Give or take, we were in there 45 minutes, an hour, right?” He said, “Yeah.” I said, “They sold 12 of these fucking bags. I said, “I hadn't seen people work like that in my life.” I said, “It was unbelievable.” And he said, “So, yeah, your point?” And I said, “Well, my point is that the minute that I recreate my first collection, that's the way I'm going to sell it, man. It's going to be so hot, it's going to sell just that fast.” And Allen looked at me, and he said, “Man, I knew I liked something about you. I love, you know, your edginess and your style.” He says, “But, man, I love—you're kind of cocky.” And he says, “And I dig that too.” He said, “I really—I really like that.” And he says, “Well, cool.“

So next thing you know, we jump on the plane, and we end up heading back to Texas, to Dallas, and I've got a couple more days to spend with him. And he takes me into this little town called Frisco, that was just starting to—it was just being kind of put together, on the outskirts of Dallas. We’re in this one building that is, like, in the middle of nowhere. You know, of course, they call it townhomes, but, you know, in my eyes, it's a freaking apartment building, you know. It's a huge conglomerate apartment building. He hands me a key, and he says, “Hey, do me a favor. Open up that door right there.” Well, I opened it. While I open this door, he says, “And let's open the door up at the count of three at the same time.” And I said, “All right.” Well, there we go. He says, “One, three,” and we open the door. We both open the doors, and we walk in, and here we are looking at each other, and he says to me, “They did exactly what I wanted them to do.”

So here I am really thinking now to myself, “Like, what the hell is going on? What am I doing with this guy?” Right? So I get right to business. And I said, “Allen, sit down.” I said, “I've got some serious questions now for you.” And I said, “Now tell me something. What do we do? What are we doing here? It's like, “What is this?” And he says, “I'll tell you what this is.” He says, “This is where you're going to start your business.” And I said, “Right here, this is where I'm going to start my business?” He says, “Yeah. I'm going to tell you what we're about to do. I have a couple buddies that are venture capitalists here in Dallas and in New York, but we're going to start off here in Dallas. I'm going to take you tomorrow, and I'm going to introduce you to these guys, and these guys are going to put a couple investors together for us. I'm going to get these people in front of you.” And he says, “And I don't want you to be any different than just the way you are. Just the way you pitched your vision and your idea to me a while ago, I want you to pitch it to these people, and nothing different. And that's how we're going to raise the money to start your business and then create your vision, and I'm going to put a creative team together for you.”

You know, I thought, all right, what the heck? So there we went. We went, and he introduced me to these people the following day. The day after that, which was the third day now in Dallas, we've already got a couple meetings, and I'm blown away. I'm like, “What the heck?” You know, I mean, things are moving fast. I mean, real fast. So I had my first two initial sit-down meetings with these investors, and I gave them my—I did my pitch, my presentation on my vision and what I'd like to do, and I'll be darned—just like that, they pulled out their checkbook and freaking gave us a check with money.

Shane

The best kinds of checks.

Manny Cuevas

I looked at Allen, and I thought, son of a gun, I only went to high school. I didn't go to college. You know, I didn't go to school for any of this that I've ever done. Like, this seems like a piece of cake. So, anyway, I came back home. I came back with massive excitement, you know, with all these pictures to show everybody, and I was just—I was so blown away, bro.

Another week goes by, and there's Allen calling me, saying, “Okay, you're going to come back to Dallas. We got an additional 15 investors that are going to sit down—that want to meet you.” And with those first 15 people, I told Allen Tucker, “Don't you think this is enough money?” And we had raised 8.9 million dollars in less than a month for the launching of my vision for the second time. And Allen Tucker put a creative design team together for me, which I had never had before in my lifetime, and he hired Kelly Patrone as my publicist. I was headlining New York Fashion Week in three months after that, and it was epic for me. It was unbelievable.

Shane

How did you get a show together that quickly?

Manny Cuevas

When you have enough money to do what we did, you can make almost anything happen, and I don't think it was—it wasn't only that. It was the team that was put together. You know, I had shared my experience, my prior experience, with Allen, and Allen said, “We're going to do it different. You're going to go into the high—I'm going to put you in the limelight of the high fashion,” and that's what he did. I headlined New York Fashion Week twice. Mexico City Fashion Week asked me to come and headline Mexico City Fashion Week. So I did that in Mexico City. My very first collection that I showed under the tents of Bryant Park. I did something that was extremely risky. Everything that I showed on the runway was already manufactured and produced.

Shane

Is that not usually how things are done?

Manny Cuevas

No, that is not the way that things are done. It was a massive risk. I mean, even when I chose to do this, Allen was like, “Boy, this is so risky.” And I told him. I said, “Just stick with it, man. Just believe in me. You know, you've believed in me this far. Don't give up on me now. Remember the words that I told you when we were in London on that bench talking, you know, holding a freaking $4,700 handbag that I bought, you know, with your credit card? Remember what I told you? I told you that I would sell the collection just as fast as they were selling these bags.” And with no lie, we had sold over 85 percent of inventory within the first 3 weeks after the fashion show, and I delivered that quick to people. It was just an eye-opener. It was just groundbreaking, and I just did things differently. You know, I took big risks, but I proved to people that we were unique, that we were different, that we were different from everything that was out there, and there you have it.

I found a niche in the industry for myself that I really enjoyed, and I thought, you know, I wanted to get more brand awareness for my father's business, you know? My father is a costumer. There isn't a hair on his body that would ever entice him to do ready-to-wear. He likes doing his one-of-a-kind pieces, and that's that. You know, being here in Nashville, you know, under the limelight, I say it being very humble, with all respect, you know, I'm sitting in a huge shadow of the elephant. You know, it's extremely hard for me to make a name for myself because everybody knows who my old man is. You know, we've just—last year, around March, we just rebranded my business. My business used to be called Wear It Out Manuel, and there was a huge confusion there, you know. That is my birth-given name, but everybody knows me as Manny, and we decided to finally go ahead and rebrand it. So the new rebranding of it is Wear It Out by Manny.

Shane

Can I ask you some questions about your particular creative process?

Manny Cuevas

Sure, absolutely, man.

Shane

When you conceive of a collection, what's the first thing you do? You sit down and, like, pencil sketch out patterns. Are you sketching out…?

Manny Cuevas

I'll tell you the way it happens for me. This is going to sound really crazy. You know, even in our own house, we don't have cable, and we try to focus some more on the old school, and interact with one another, and use books more than anything. I create things that I grab from my inspiration, which I call life. The inspirations in all my design work that I've ever done in any of the collections come from not only my heart, but they are inspired by my everyday living, from what I consume, what I see with my eyes, what I touch with my fingers and my hands, and what I hear and what I smell—my all-American and my all-Mexican heritage combined. It is my everyday living where I get my inspiration—the birds, the bees, the people, watching people interact with one another. I just come up with whatever the heck I want to be honest with you, so my inspirations come from life itself.

Shane

Yeah, how hands-on are you with all the different facets of, you know, the designing, cutting, sewing? Do you have team members for that, or do you still do all of that yourself?

Manny Cuevas

Oh, yeah, I create—I do it all myself still. Now, everything that I design, I still design in full-scale, meaning if I'm going to create a coat, I actually cut a pattern in my size, my actual size, so I make it to fit myself. The very first prototype and the very first cut of anything I usually make for myself. You know, the design team will eventually—what they do is they have to scan my full-scale drawing of whatever I've done, and then they minimize it and put it into a CAD format, and then they—what they say is they call it—they perfect my drawings or my artwork and then, you know, attach it to garments. But I am 100 percent full capacity on the full drawing, from concept to fabrication to actual sample, holding it in hand, and then I present it to my team, and then they—I let them run with it.

Shane

So knowing everything that you know now, if somebody came to you at Fashion Week, someone that was just starting out, and said, “Manny, I want to be a fashion designer.” What advice would you give them?

Manny Cuevas

Well, the best advice that I can give them is to follow your dreams, and if it's a dream, then pursue it. But if it's not a dream and it's just something that's just comes to your mind that you want to do, run as fast as you can and go find something else to do. [Laughs]. I mean, really. I mean, you know, what I'm saying? It's just—this business is very cutthroat.

Shane

What was one of your top favorite moments so far in the design world, whether it was, you know, fitting a celebrity with your dad or coming out with your own line and selling out of it at New York Fashion Week? What singular event really stands out to you at the forefront?

Manny Cuevas

I'll tell you what. I'm going to say that one of the most exciting, epic times was I was here in Nashville. My father had pretty much put the workload onto me with the design work and dealing with it—the clientele. My father had me designing a lot of different things for so many different people, but one of the many people just happened to be Mr. Bob Dylan himself. And Bob Dylan performed for the Pope at the Vatican, and I didn't only design, but I made every single article of clothes that he wore on stage when he played for the Pope at the Vatican, from the hat to the shirt to the bowtie, to the belt to the buckle, to the slacks, to the boots that this man was wearing. And that's one of the most epic times of my life, including doing New York Fashion Week for the very first time in my life.

Shane

That's going to be a hard one to top.

Manny Cuevas

Yeah.

Shane

As a kid, your father did a lot of custom stuff. You had celebrities coming in the shop. Were you starstruck, or did you ever have any incentive to get into it to be around those kinds of people, or were you just completely attracted to the art aspect of it?

Manny Cuevas

You know, yes, a little bit of both. I've got a great example of one. I remember my father—I mean, good gosh, Ronald Reagan was a great client of my father's. You know, my father dressed him in a lot of his movies and just personally—just dressed him on a regular basis. And I remember Sylvester Stallone was one of the people, you know. I remember I was blown away by the movie Rocky and all that. I remember all the guys, all the kids in the neighborhood—you know, it was so exciting for me to ask my friends, “Hey, you know what? You want to meet Rocky Balboa, man? You need to come to my dad's shop today because I know he's picking up his clothes today.”

There were a lot of times that things like that happened. I mean, good gosh. Johnny Cash, you know, I mean, let me tell you that man, every time he put his hands on me, I felt like my hair started to stand on my arms again. Johnny Cash had this incredible power about him that was unbelievable. He had this, like, shield around him when he would come into my presence. He was bigger than life. He was huge, you know, and then his voice was just so dominant and attractive, but he was so humble, you know, and he'd cradle me, and he'd talk to me, but he was talking to me like I was an adult.

So it was interesting, you know. It was always—it was a lot of fun, you know. So it was a little bit of both. It was the artist side of it, meaning the artistic side of it—seeing these people wearing these incredible clothes and making them come alive—but then it was the personalities that were in the clothes, you know. It was amazing, you know, unbelievable, really unbelievable, the incredible memories that I can share on abundance of people, you know, on abundance of people.

Shane

I think people are going to love hearing stories like this, so if you've got any more that you want to share, I mean, by all means.

Manny Cuevas

[Laughs]. Oh, Lord, good gosh.

Shane

It's story time, buddy.

Manny Cuevas

Well, you know Stallone, okay? So, going back to Stallone. I remember Stallone coming in, you know, and me making it like a big ordeal and telling a bunch of my buddies and friends at school, “Hey, if there was a day, this is the day.” I remember a handful of me and my buddies showed up to my dad's shop, come in, and there he was. There was Sylvester Stallone. I remember all of us ran out the other back—we all ran out the back door, came around the building, came to the front, and were standing right in front of my dad's shop as he was walking out of the door.

I remember jumping the gun and saying, “Hey, Rocky! What's going on, Rocky?” Oh, man, he was so cold-shouldered, and my dad was at the door. My dad had just walked into the door, so my dad was watching us through his glass door standing out there, and he could see me saying something to him, and he didn't even acknowledge me. And I remember my dad coming out of his store, just that fast, and looking at my buddies and I. My dad said, “What happened?” And I said, “I just—I was like, ‘Hey, Rocky Balboa, how you doing?’” And I said, “I was there, pop.” He said, “He didn't even acknowledge you, did he?” I said, “No.” My dad walked right over to his car, and he had a word with Sylvester Stallone, and I'll be darned. Stallone got out of that car, and he came right back out, and it was like it was a whole different person. He came out, and he was finally the guy that we wanted him to be.

A couple years later, I finally asked my father about that. I said, “Hey, what happened?” “I'll tell you what happened.” He says, “I told him to go ahead and come back and pick up his suits and pay me the money and get the hell out, and that I never wanted to see the guy again.” And I said, “You're kidding me.” He says, “No, that is what I told him.” My dad told me—he said after that happened, he ended up coming back and ended up purchasing, like, ordering, like, 15 suits at one time and like a dozen shirts, I mean, just something crazy. He came back trying to, you know, fix the mistake, if you want to call it a mistake, for not being humble to me and my buddies.

You know, Ronald Reagan—I mean, that guy. You talk about an incredible man—and Nancy. They were just so sweet. You know, they were incredible people. My dad had a horse ranch outside of the city, in a little area called the Agua Dulce Canyon, and right around the corner from our ranch was Montie Montana's ranch, which Montie Montana is a huge roper, an old trick roper cowboy guy that they would use in the studios. And, you know, Reagan, Ronald and Nancy—you know, they'd come and visit. They'd come to our ranch, but, you know, Ronald was friends with Montie Montana, so that was a huge connection between my father, Ronald Reagan, and Montie Montana. So, you know, spending time with the president was stricken off the chain.

I mean, the way this man would speak to his wife. That's one thing that I could remember is that, even as a young boy, I'd look up at that man, and he would make his wife just glow from a distance, and it was just unbelievable. He was always just so humble and just so sweet. You know, I mean, it was just—I was just so lucky.

You know, I was able to come across—a lot of that clientele that my dad catered to were really incredible people—Ray Price, Blondie Calderon. You know, Ray Price—he's one of my absolute favorites. May he rest in peace. You know, I spent a lot of time with Ray Price growing up because, you know, he was one of my dad's clients, but he was also one of my dad's buds. They’d go to the racetrack, and they'd hang out. They’re just—they were buds. You know, the times spent with Ray Price were always just sensational, just unforgettable. The times spent with, you know, Hank Jr.—I mean, good gosh. The crazy, wild times with Hank Jr. and Waylon. Those kids were just unbelievable. Liberace. I mean, good gosh. My dad used to dress Liberace. I remember that guy—you know, him being around the studio.

Shane

So those outfits that Liberace wore—that's your dad's work?

Manny Cuevas

Yeah, a lot of that stuff was my father's work. I mean, good gosh, that guy was a riot. Just all the different types of people—the Rat Pack Elite, Sammy Davis Jr., and those guys, you know. When they would come and hang out and just drink and party at the shop and hang out, that was crazy, you know. I mean, it was just the handful of people—Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell. Oh, good gosh, I could go on and on—Neil Diamond, Neil Young, I mean, you know, again, Salvador Dali. I mean, how many kids can talk about being bounced on Salvador Dali while he's making faces at you and he's twisting his mustache? You know, I mean, you know, he's one of—some of my abstracts, I say that they’re inspired by Dali's work. You know, some of that crazy abstract work is just off the charts. So, you know, I feel like I've been fed a lot of good things. You know, I think I probably grew up a little fast for my time. It was just interesting. It was fun. It was really a lot of fun.

Shane

Well, it sounds like you were mentored incredibly well by your father, and you took that lesson and are passing it on in an equally admirable way.

Manny Cuevas

Yeah.

Shane

Kudos to you for that.

Manny Cuevas

Thank you. Thank you.

Shane

Well, that brings us to our final segment. I've got 14 questions that we can go through really quickly.

Manny Cuevas

Sure.

Shane

A few word answers.

Manny Cuevas

Sure.

Shane

This is the one. Everybody gets those. So if you're ready, here we go. If your job only paid the bills and not a penny more, would you still do it?

Manny Cuevas

Absolutely. Absolutely. I'd still do it for the passion, you know, regardless.

Shane

What talent or skill do you not have that you wish you did?

Manny Cuevas

I wish I could have had the skills and the knowledge to be a pilot. Maybe one day I will.

Shane

Fill in the blank. I am a success if I _____.

Manny Cuevas

Believe in myself and lean on my earned wisdom.

Shane

Fill in the blank again. I am a failure if I _____.

Manny Cuevas

Do not give the best effort with all of my endeavors, I would say.

Shane

What is the single best piece of advice that you followed to get where you are today?

Manny Cuevas

The most positive bit of advice, I believe, that has been given to me has been instituted into me ever since I was a young boy, and that is, you know, just to try the best you can and always shoot for the stars and, along the way, share the goodness with others so you can continue to be blessed. That's it.

Shane

What's a good piece of advice you ignored to get where you are today?

Manny Cuevas

Entrepreneurs in the family. Example: You know, my aunt is an incredible entrepreneur in the restaurant business, known as kind of the Taco Queen in Southern California, and I opened five restaurants out of 40-some restaurants that she had opened in her career. I remember her offering me one or all five restaurants and saying, “Son, this is yours. You know, you did this.” And regardless, that passion and that love that I dedicated myself to for that year—you know, I look back at it now, saying, “God, my life could have taken a different path being in the restaurant business.” But here I am today, sticking to what was, I guess, not intentionally bred into me, you know, forcefully bred into me, which is the passion for the fashion.”

Shane

What character trait do you like best about yourself?

Manny Cuevas

I'm a natural leader.

Shane

And the character trait you like least about yourself.

Manny Cuevas

I'm impatient. [Laughs].

Shane

Manny, fill in the blank here. I believe every child should have the opportunity to _____.

Manny Cuevas

Be creative.

Shane

If you could suggest one piece of self-improvement that everyone on earth would adopt, what would it be?

Manny Cuevas

Make love, not hate.

Shane

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Manny Cuevas

Super health—yeah, like Wolverine.

Shane

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be?

Manny Cuevas

Gandhi.

Shane

Gandhi?

Manny Cuevas

Mm-hmm.

Shane

A hospitable nearby planet has been discovered, and you have been recruited to help colonize it. You can take any three items with you that you wish. What are they?

Manny Cuevas

The seeds for myrrh, a 3D printer, and a “how to survive” manual. [Laughs].

Shane

I like where your head's at, buddy. All right, this is the final one. All right, Manny, you have just won a lifetime achievement award, so give us your acceptance speech. There won't be any music to cue you or rush you off the stage, so you can get to all of the “thank yous” that you need. Or if there's any personal cause that you want to champion, this is your soapbox, so let her rip.

Manny Cuevas

Of course, you know, I have to thank my beautiful mate, my wife, my woman, that I like to call my rock, for being by my side through all the struggles and hardships that we've faced and that we may face in time. My lovely children, all the people that have helped mentor me through my lifetime at this point, including my father, my mother, my family, my friends. I'm humbled by all the people that I've been able to put my hands on so far that have gotten me to this place that I'm at, and the Lord above for giving me the faith and the strength for another tomorrow, more than anything. And there you have it.

Shane

There we have it. Cool. Well, brother, this was worth the wait. This was awesome. Glad you could make it.

Manny Cuevas

Thank you. Thank you so much, really. I'm so honored to be part of this. And here's a big yahoo to Live2cre8. Let's get it going. Adios.

Shane

Adios. Have a good night.

Manny Cuevas

You too. Bye-bye.

Shane

Once again, that was iconic fashion designer Manny Cuevas, creator of Wear It Out by Manny. I'd like to thank everyone for joining me today. You are listening to the Live2cre8 podcast, and this is Shane Algren reminding you to dream big, be inspired, and live creative.