life in fashion
Whenever people ask me “what do you do for a living?”, it’s always difficult to answer for a few reasons. No one ever knew what the hell I was talking about when I say I work in raw materials. I mean, I could have said textile development, sourcing, research & development, etc. but no one I knew would know from those descriptions, either lol. My mom used to just tell people I was the VP at my company. Smh. Gotta love the faith, though.
Anyway, back to the story. I source and develop fabric, lace and trims for bras, panties and things in between. It’s a beautiful mix of sourcing, developing, design, product development, marketing… all of the roles wrapped in one. It’s a pretty fun, sometimes overwhelming, career. I don't have a background in textiles, surprisingly. If you read my “about me”, you’d know that I studied communication, digital media and fashion marketing. I started off as a business major but didn’t continue with those studies because it felt too restrictive and to get your Master’s in business, you have to take the GRE. I was over testing, so I took the easier route for a degree that could be used in any field. Lol. No shame. I have my Master’s in Fashion Marketing, which is really applicable to my role in various ways. I’ve always been interested in brand story-telling and sourcing materials/trims help to tell the stories of the garment, the fabric, etc.
Working in retail helped to propel me into my first corporate fashion role in product development. Being interested and passionate about garment construction and visual merchandising made me want to learn more about the process of bringing those ideas and concepts to fruition. Product development is one of the steps and textile development is almost like the 1st step because sometimes the idea/concept may come first and then the material can bring that idea/concept to life or the fabric helps to create the story.
I never would have imagined that this is where I would land in my career. It’s not always super creative and fun, though, but I enjoy it. What I love the most about my journey is the risk taking and belief in myself. I’m not a huge risk taker - I play it safe, but taking a leap of faith to leave my retail job close to home, to travel miles to the big city was the best thing that I did for myself. It introduced me to so many new levels, people and opportunities.
And just being me landed me my first role. I was almost 2 hours late to my interview because I got lost - but I maintained communication with all parties involved and let them know what was happening. Lol. Of course, they loved me during the interview and it was on like Donkey Kong from that point on. And I haven’t left the big city since then.
DRESS DRIES VAN NOTEN SNEAKERS NIKE
Speaking of the big city, I rocked a borrowed NY dad cap with my vintage Dries Van Noten painter’s shirt, which I wore as a dress. I purchased this from Beacon’s Closet years ago. It’s such a simple, but cool throw on. I love a good dress + sneaker combo.
Fun fact: I was pregnant in this photo and had no idea.
jassy