OKMULGEE, Okla.- Daniel Lee (Cherokee) is the 26-year old founder of Last Lemon, a new business specializing in retro and streetwear clothing. Lee’s creations mix traditional Native American designs and motifs with urban streetwear.
The fashion spark for Lee happened while watching his little sister do runways. When he saw that the men’s wear wasn’t his type of style he wanted to try something fresh.
According to Lee’s website, “Last Lemon is more than a designer brand—it’s a story of resilience and transformation. Rooted in Native American heritage, our designs blend traditional patterns, ribbonwork, and patchwork with modern urban streetwear to create something truly unique.”
Last Lemon came to life because of a saying he used: life gives you lemons. “Life gives you things that you think you want but then it’s not what you think it was,” Lee said.
Last Lemon for Lee means resilience, throughout Lee’s life he has been led onto different paths of the road. He had steered into a difficult journey, but Lee went towards his religion to help along the way. However he knows that through his religious beliefs it helped open doors for him such as his business.
Lee had a mentor that helped guide him as well, “I met a mentor that really changed the direction of where I was going. I met him when I was doing construction work and he had this different mentality, I was 22. What made him different was how he appeared. He manipulated me in a good way,” Lee said.
In 2019, he began by stepping out of his comfort zone and has been working on himself. He gets emotional because he never congratulated himself for his growth, but is looking forward to taking classes in business administration in the future.
Currently, the self-taught Lee spends a lot of time researching fashion, fabric, and clothing. All of Lee’s design work is done in his home studio, and he takes inspiration visiting flea markets because of the authentic and retro offerings. With a focus more on urban streetwear and retro wear, he has also begun to incorporate Kokum design in his denim designs- Lee’s kokum collection is coming out soon. Kokum designs integrate Ukrainian floral scarves in pow wow regalia and are also integrated into clothing, jewelry, and other accessories. Kokum is the Cree word for grandmother, and recalls the traditional scarves worn by elderly women.
He’s been on a roll of creating different designs by adding his touch. Lee has created jackets featuring kokum and is currently trying out a ribbon skirt with a kokum design. Lee has been enjoying how he can bring his designs to life even though he is still learning.
Lee isn’t motivated by money, but hardwork and effort. “The grind got’s to be right to make it work, and the grind got’s to be right for what you are doing it for,” Lee said.
“I got to get more people involved with Last Lemon and it starts with the graphic design that I am working on right now.”
Lee also spoke about achievement and motivation.“Believe in yourself that you can do what others can do, there’s no limit to what you can do. Once you get that settled in your mind, there’s just no stopping you. There’s no limit to what you want and what you put your mind to.”
For any information you can go to Lee’s website at last-lemon.com and his facebook called Last Lemon.
