Alcalay grew up in New York City with a sewing needle in her hand after immigrating from Vietnam with her family at the age of 3.
Designing clothing became her first love as she worked side-by-side with her mother who worked in factories. Alcalay’s extensive and early training was introduced by her mother, self-taught tailor, sample-maker, and pattern-maker. Alcalay acquired the secrets of her trade working alongside her mother in gritty overcrowded manufacturing factories and later in the basement of their home where heaps of clothing awaited completion. With no seam unpressed, and no hem overlooked, Alcalay’s well trained eyes became sharper with every stitch. It was an unconventional and oddly auspicious upbringing for a natural-born designer.