The question I'm sure many young people ask themselves when aspiring to be a 'fashion designer'. I came upon fashion design from a really strange path. The words: Bespoke, A-line, Peterpan collar, Stylish were just not part of my vocabulary until I turned about 20 years old. I go to fashion design school now with 20 year olds who have wanted to be in fashion and designing fashion since the age of 5. This something I could never relate to.
I was the kid who used to cut their Barbie's hair off, never ever wear dresses unless forced to after a 2 hour argument with my mother (yes even at the age of 7) who once said 'one day you are going to look back and ask me why I let you go out like this'. I hate it when parents are right.
High shool was another disaster. I hated the school dress and finally adopted it in year 10 after my school shorts finally fell apart and my mother refused to buy me another pair. I was angry and angsty. I loved heavy metal, wore black, was most likely an 'Emo' before Emo's existed. I played bass in an all girl rock band and basically I thought I was the shit.
After shool finished, however, I realised that the way I had been acting and dressing was just. plain. shit. I started reading fashion magazines in second year uni where I was studying Arts with majors in Anthropology and Koori Studies. It interested me greatly but was never going to amount to a proper, nor satisfying career. I had to start thinking bigger. Medicine was always there. It was what I had wanted to do since the age of 5. Countless pretend operations on stuffed animals, burning ants with magnifying glasses to get the formic acid smell, wishing I could be the person that saved everyone. I worked in a hospital.... and as much as I loved every minute of it, I realised I didn't want to be a miserable surgeon like all the ones I was constantly surrounded by. They were: to divorce, divorcing, divorced.
Plan B. Fine Art, Design and finally, Fashion. I had become ensnared by the fashion world through my experience as sales consultants for various retail brands, working for a fashion company and realising that maybe, just maybe, it was something I was capable of.
Fashion is hard. Don't romanticise it as this industry where you get free stuff, work 9am-5pm and everyone looks like a supermodel. It is not like that at all. It's hard work, including weekends and staying back sometimes until 10pm, it is trying to juggle stupid amounts of tasks at once and making not one mistake, it is getting sore hands from cutting out samples, it is stressed people in stressed environments. I'm making it sound horrible now, but after all of that, sometimes I have to ask? Why did I choose this?
I suppose because after all that, after all the hysterical nights of sewing and making stupid powerpoints about brands you've made up, after designing fake things that will never exist, after making the same jacket 3 times just to get a jetted pocket absolutely perfect, it's satisfying. I can look at my collection in 5 weeks time and say, yes I made that.
That was me who worked for 16 weeks to come up with 7 garments and hopefully watch it go to runway at the end of year. It is that, that makes the whole thing worth it well.... ideally.
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