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Travels from San Francisco to Bamako to Paris, I searched for the perfect formula to use fashion for good but got caught up in the glam and grime business of a consuming industry. During the transformation from fashionista to miminalista, realised that idealising sustainability in fashion, no matter how good for the planet, didn’t define my worth. Now I share the learnings, ponderings and sounds of my fashion journey, from the other side. |
A Blog Series
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"How to See" is a series where we examine the art of the word "start" like a painting at a museum. What do we see? What do we think of? Is it a blank canvas? An empty mannequin? A cold sewing machine? Inspiration? Anxiety? A decision? I asked 21 designers and artists from all over the world what it means to them. You'll be surprised what comes up.
Perhaps it will give us constructive insight on starting our own projects in a way where they stick, help us create action, or form specific steps for each of us to "just do it." Examples Below Artist 7: The McHammer: Try this for an effortless start to your next creative project Artist 10: Real Life From an Emerging Designer: a Personal Start to Realizing a Story, Part 1 |
Recent ArticlesI remember I was dating this tech guy in San Francisco. Wait, envision the very stereotypical 20 something Silicon Valley tech guy with millions in funding for his startup, driving a 80K car with a reminder app on his phone to "call mom" every month. I just came back from the fifth pattern maker I hired, flinging my latest bag re-design, side to side and the slyness in my eye was the exclamation point. His response was a shaking head and eyes extra round, "all this again?...ok, but why don't you just..."start" already? My eyes matched his. This is the start, right? I answered him with a nervous run on sentence, "I have to get the final specs...fabric...and then when one price changes, the whole thing-what do you know anyway..." What I didn't realize was that creating a product is not the start of designing my business. See stories like this and more articles here.
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As I work on my business, I find I'm not alone and it's easy to be "not-perfect" with them. Phew! Being honest and vulnerability is work but with them, I'm in a safe space. So who's in these groups and how did I find them? The deal is that everything is free, organized and perfectly random...
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Florence has been reflecting recently around what it means to be successful. She said that she would get stuck in making decisions, trusting herself less. “When it feels natural...or meant to be, it should be easier...right?”
She explained that in November 2019 she had a mild response to her brand's launch because of Covid. "A lockdown doesn't give people... |
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So I finally created a due date for the first draft of my book. How did I almost forget I had that as a goal? Last week I was making a list of my 6 month objectives and what I needed to do to accomplish them by May. I went through the list and I was like, ok….create new classes check, revise website check, write more consistent blog posts check. But there is something else...something about writing..what is that again? Write ..write….oh! Of course! Write the BOOK! How did it not make it on my most important thing to do list?
Does this mean that writing the book wasn't important... |
Design an Idea Class
For Creative Problem Solving and Decision Making
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I had such a hard time changing from pharmacy to fashion, moving from San Francisco to Paris, figuring out my first collection, I needed a method to untangle it all. Be your own coach! Consultants, counselors, best friends are not always there and journaling only goes so far. I created this class for you to structure your ideas, get clearer on your creations and business planning.
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Book |
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Covid taught me many things, but to not procrastinate is top on the list. This is my ode to the independent creative- a story a resource, a guidebook. Sign up for my newsletter to get snippets of the book in progress!
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You know how sometimes you have cravings? Usually mine come in the form of Tyrrell's potato chips but around February of last year, I had this intense need to... share. Ok, it's not a crazy revelation where the seas parted. I'm not about the crappy day at the factory nor "tips and tricks" to solving whatnot. But in fact, sharing my design life, the crazy and absurd working in France, Africa and US. I'll be diving in deep into process and helping people figure out the tough stuff for the independent creative ... in a quirky way. 'Cause, you know sometimes I dream of fish but most of the time I leave the illogical logical stuff to Instagram posts.
I'd love to share snippets of the book at various periods with you. It's always nice to have company on this sort of journey. You'll get behind the scenes perspectives I don't talk about on the blog and personal learnings I only share with mentees. |