In downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, a boy was inspired by those around him as they taught him to be the best version of himself he could be. He learned that the better he dressed, the better he seemed to feel about himself.
That boy is Kielon McQuarters — now a junior jumper for Wichita State’s track and field team — who is still inspired by the people in his hometown and by the fashion that makes him confident.
“I grew up around this man, Pastor Mike, a pastor that is very into clothing,” McQuarters said. “And from that my older brother got into clothing. And I guess as a little brother … I kind of just wanted to be like him … That ‘look good, play good’ saying, I really developed that. More of a self-confidence build thing — that the better I feel I look, the more confidence I had in myself.”
McQuarters took his love of fashion further than just wearing what makes him feel good. He now aims to help inspire others to feel confident with his own clothing brand, KKV, which stands for “Kielon and Kameron’s Vision.” KKV was created by McQuarters and his childhood friend, Kameron, and through it, they want to help people find satisfaction in their own visions of success.
“Everybody goes at their own pace, and so I’m just trying to use (the) understanding that everybody has their own vision and their own version and that your version is okay,” McQuarters said. “As long as you’re striving for the vision, you don’t really have to worry about your version as long as you are making steps to be better.”
KKV plans to drop its first clothing line in fall 2025, which will include three pieces of casual wear.
For now, the track team at Wichita State is McQuarters’ priority. McQuarters has only been jumping since his senior year of high school, which he said he started on a whim.
“(I) played basketball my whole life and my assistant coach was a high jump coach and said, ‘Come try it.’ I was like, ‘Sure, why not? I get to miss school,’” McQuarters said. “So after four weeks, I was number two of the state, top 50 in the nation, and so it was like, ‘Forget basketball. We’re here now.’”
McQuarters has met many people on the team, but when he saw fellow jumper junior Amarrion Reese, they “just kind of clicked.”
“Right off the bat, I would say I didn’t click with anybody else on the team like I did with him,” McQuarters said. “Since then, I feel like there’s somebody I’ve always kicked it with.”
Reese said he doesn’t have an exact favorite memory with McQuarters since they spend so much time together on bus rides, in hotel rooms and just talking in general. He finds that they have a “good little balance” on the field when competing.
“(He’s) very focused, very locked in,” Reese said. “Really not much you can say to knock him off his game, which is good because I be not so locked in sometimes.”
McQuarters decided to join Wichita State because of his passion for track and his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi.
Kappa Alpha Psi focuses on inspiring service to the public. McQuarters said that he is a part of a little brother group where he spends time with elementary school students three times a week.
“If you truly love what you do and you appreciate what other people are giving to you, you do the exact thing and give it back to people younger than you,” McQuarters said.
His fraternity also focuses on achievement, which helps show him that he can break the boxes he is placed in and be successful in whatever he wants.
“They do their best to just put us around people who are successful outside often normal Black stereotypical professions, (like) doctors, lawyers, all of that, just stuff that you normally don’t see growing up Black people be successful in,” McQuarters said. “They want us to put around those types of people and encourages that you can home you can do all that.”
With all the people he has in his life — his brother, pastor, parents and fraternity — McQuarters said that he has learned to trust his own vision as long as it’s something he truly believes in.
“Not everybody is going to like the clothes I put out,” McQuarters said. “But it’s what makes me happy in that all I can do is do what I think is best and what I enjoy.”
