It’s 8 a.m. on a Saturday in Los Angeles and Bishme Cromartie postpones our phone interview for an emergency fitting for Oscar-winning actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

“Can I call once we are done?” the fashion designer texts me.

We connect later that evening and he is exhausted, and jokes he probably shouldn’t talk to a reporter in his state.

I’m glad he did.

I thought I knew just about everything about Bishme Rajiv Patrick Cromartie, having known him for more than a decade.

But he surprised me in our latest conversation and revealed things about himself I never knew.

He opened up about being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community and how that intersects with his Blackness. He talked politics, too. Previously, our conversations were more about avant-garde silhouettes, celebrity fittings and his latest accolades.

He revealed he wants to move beyond designing for individuals.

“I’ve dressed celebrities so much in life, I would like to be a creative director or costume designer of a TV show,” he said, adding that it could be everything from a drama to fantasy. “I would like to sit down with writers. I would love to design costumes for a ballet — just to see the movement of fabric.”

He also talked about the grief he experienced last year when he won “Project Runway All Stars,” becoming the first winner of the show from Maryland since now-host Christian Siriano. The year before that, his sister, Chimere Faye Didley, died from cancer.

“I almost didn’t know how to adjust to everything happening all at once. I didn’t want to be sad, but I wanted to live through these feelings in a real way.”

Cromartie sees a therapist — something that he recommends other creatives do as well. During fashion week this year, he released YouTube video featuring models who spoke about grief.

Here is more of my conversation with Cromartie ahead of his appearance at the Baltimore Museum of Industry’s new “Labor + Innovation” speaker series on Wednesday. Responses have been condensed for space and brevity.

What does the future look like for Bishme Cromartie as a brand?

My bucket list consists of utilizing my showroom space and gathering what the next decade of Bishme Cromartie and what the brand looks like. I want balance, but I’m also ready for the next stage. I’m learning how to build a team so we can get sales and buyers. I want to rearrange, rebrand and reimagine.

All the stuff that I [thought] I wanted to accomplish I already did. It’s such a scary thing.

Where are you living?

I’m still in Los Angeles. But, I would love to know what it’s like to live in Paris. I’ve been here four years and some change. I moved here a week before COVID. I was so devastated. Before that, I used to fly [to Los Angeles] for seven years — especially during the awards season. I was like, let me just make the decision to leave. I thought I was going to make clothes, but I was making masks.

What is it about Baltimore that creates so much Black excellence?

I think Baltimore has this unique aura about it. When you are in a place where we are very insightful and very loving people, and have imaginations out of this world. When you don’t have the resources, you create them. You feel this tenacity. Someone who is not from Baltimore would not understand the hunger, and the fight to fulfill a dream. Baltimore makes you aware of self and that you don’t need much to get things started. You just do it.

What keeps you going?

The unknown. The way my life has been — it has been something amazing that continually happens. All of the things I have obtained, I just did it when the moment came and presented itself. I’m really into the unknown now and being inspired by it.

If you weren’t designing, what would you do?

I would have a bunch of things going on. I would love to cook — be a chef. I think culinary arts is really cool. Anything with my hands — except the medical field. The color red is beautiful, but blood makes me weak. It makes me faint.

Will you vote? And who are you going to vote for?

Hell, yes. It makes you sit here and realize you have the power to make the right choice for the next president. At the end of the day, it’s time to use our voice to make the changes we want. You have been seeing the unraveling of things. Everyone wants the truth more than entertainment. Everyone is just fed up. And they want to make sure the president who they select will be the right one. I know who I want to win. I keep saying “President Harris.” I have been manifesting it for her. It would be so dope to see something new and the change that happens. I remembered when Obama was elected and seeing that happened. It pushed something in me to drive more and aim higher.

Any interest in dressing political women?

I would still love to dress Michelle Obama. That would make my heart melt. “President Harris” would be the cherry on top. I already see the gowns I would make. That would be a dope thing. That’s literally on one of my to-do lists.

Why is it important for young Black LGBTQ+ youth to have representation?

To me it’s important for the LGBTQ community to have representation. There’s a wide range of what that looks like. Media portrays a single, very minute aspect of what that looks like. For me, I’m not the most flamboyant or the most masculine, but I am in tune with both my sides. And for me, I feel that being able to play with and be in my duality is the ability to show that there is a different range in the community. You can be who you are, and you don’t have to make it your title. It’s great to see not only LGBTQ representation — but Black LGBTQ representation. There is not a lot of representation there. I’ve come from a manly man family. I never experienced anything weird or someone being mad at me because I was gay. Having that in my community is very dope, but I know that not a lot of other people are fortunate enough to have that. It is our responsibility to show that there is not just one way for one type of person from the community.

What Baltimore food are you craving the most right now?

I’ve seen some new restaurants that I want to check out. L.A. doesn’t have any good taste in food. I love the beaches. But not the food. When I come home, I just indulge. I don’t care about smoothies and green drinks. When I come home, I get crab cakes, real mac and cheese and western fries.