Confidence is Always Fashionable
- Sep 5, 2017
- 3 min read
When first starting this blog, I have found the single most difficult thing to do is figure out about what exactly to write. In fashion particularly and design in general, there are tons of topics available which everyone else has already written. Considering I am still in the infancy stage of my journey towards renowned fashion designer status, perhaps a look into what got me started in fashion in the first place is a great topic. Now, where's one of those Wayne's World flashback sequences?
Oddly enough, fashion design wasn't my first passion, costuming was where I began. As a kid, my favorite holiday was my sister's birthday, Halloween! It was the one night a year where everyone could dress up and pretend to be whoever they wanted. My young geek heart couldn't resist being all my favorites; Superman, Batman, Flash, a ninja, the possibilities were endless. One complaint however, the costumes bought at the store were too flimsy and cheap. Wear them once and they fell apart and for $40+ a piece, a giant rip off. You see, I liked to wear them at home far after my candy bag was empty and the seasons turned to colder weather.
It was at the tender age of 12 that I had the opportunity to truly learn how to sew and use patterns in a class taught in middle school called "SewBiz". Witty right? The idea of the course was to learn how to sew and make the costumes for the theatre department. Ahh, it was blissful. That Halloween I went as a Mad Scientist. Jump head to high school and I picked up the job of Head Costumer for my theatre department and in my senior year the dreaded, "what are you going to do with your life" question came around. Naturally, I chose to continue what I had thought I was good at doing, costumes. Some research revealed that if I were to go into costuming that was all I could do, however if I chose fashion design, I could do both. It was a no brainer.
While in fashion school, I used my time as a costumer to my advantage borrowing history to feed my looks as well as create costumes for myself in my spare time. During this time, I also found a passion for helping nurture people's self esteem and fashion was the easiest way in which I could do that for them. Making people look good made them feel good which, in turn, made me feel good. Over the years, I have gotten more out of helping people find their ideal silhouette and seeing how it raises their self confidence.
The other day while working a part time gig, I was asked if a jacket looked good on a young lady. Normally, I answer those types of questions detailing all the design details or the overall compatibility of the silhouette to the wearer. But that day I decided to take a different route as I had just began writing this blog and my reason for my work was still fresh in my mind. I told the young lady that while I could tell her why it’d work design wise, I asked how she felt wearing it? Her response was she just liked the jacket but feared it would come off as too “grandma-ish”. After discussing some ways that she could style it to address the youthfulness concern, I followed up with, “If you like the piece and you feel great in it, you’ll look fantastic. Meaning that if you look good, you feel good and that good feeling translates to confidence. And confidence is always in fashion.” She left with the jacket that day and her mother had lipped to me sotto voce, “you’re awesome, thank you.”
This is why I do what I do.
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