Workin' on a project today designing tops for women made from professional athletic jerseys. Random! I used to be a fashion designer for a couple companies: the head designer (I was only 22 then!) of California Born, a jean company that was super celeby/expensivo during the big jean boom, but it was for a good cause. Even Alicia Keys was going to wear a dress that I wokred on to the Grammy's and the jeans were worn by the big stars at the time. But my favorite part was when I went to China and hung out with the owners of the factories in the poor regions of Canton and experiencing a different world. The travel part is probably the best part of it all, even if we were in the factory for 12 hours waiting for a BUTTON! It was a very amazing experience and opportunity. Then I designed for Gramicci, an outdoor(climbing and biking) clothing company but eventually moved into the textile/graphic/art design area because I started to become really unhappy with the production aspect of design. It was so great there: I had my own giant art department and a lot of artistic freedom AND I was completely in charge of the sustainable trim/packaging and design! So I got to meet with our trim provider and explore all kinds of recycled and sustainable possibilities for our trim! At first our supplier didn't have much but because we asked them to search for alternatives, it inspired them to create their own line of eco-friendly products to offer their clients! I LOVE that! I wore so many hats at that company though and worked long hours (days into nights into days sleeping at my desk or in my car) that I finally quit and started freelancing. FREE-lancing. It can be scary, it's definitely a day to day thing, but the freedom of the unknown, the discipline to rise to the challenges, and the versatility is what makes it worth it. And I can work on my own schedule and bounce from one thing to the next (music to art to photography to writing to living to loving to being).
But, back to fashion design: It's REALLY FUN in the beginning doing research ( I LOVE doing research) and design, drawing and shopping, and I even liked communicating with our factories in China, India, and the Japanese-learning their language and creating good relationships with them! BUT, the follow through is tedious, demanding, and very detail oriented.
My road to fashion design was completely random. I had been a costume designer before, but just for little plays. Before I started working in fashion, I was just starting my photography career! But then I was offered a job, took it, learned quickly and voila: designs for jerseys above. It was a lot of hard work but totally worth it. I had/have a plan to create a simple eco-line that works only for creating a network for charities and non-profits (because I believe in the community aspect of business rather than the competition) and really taking advantage of the celebrity of "branding"---which is the reason why I said yes to designing and moved to California. Anyway---very long story, but very interesting. I've been so blessed to have been able to work in all kinds of creative fields, and my repertoire just continues to grow in all kinds of different directions, like a crazy looking tree, or, maybe a colorful garden. :)
Now I'm going to run up the mountain.
Love, Christine
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