Light Makes Right
making waves in the fashion industry
It is a Wednesday evening not long after my apparel collection is under way in 2006. I am in a meeting late in the day trying to decide which fabrics to move forward with for the next collection, when my phone rings.
The evening light is soft in my studio and there is a still in the air as a sudden surge of adrenaline hits my system when Katya Foreman introduces herself as a writer from Women’s Wear Daily!! (WWD is the most important fashion industry publication!). I’d been featured in all the local publications at this point and am starting to get a little national attention, but this is a BIG DEAL! She’d heard about my line and my fashion show featuring the Canary Dresses I’d designed that illustrated a powerful story bringing awareness to sustainability. She asks if I can send samples of my upcoming Spring/Summer 2007 collection to NYC by Friday to be shipped to Paris for a photo shoot the following week. OMG! I am buzzing through my whole body.
Of course I say YES! But that is only two days away! I’m not sure how I’m going to deliver. It is early in the apparel seasonal calendar to be asking for samples and I haven’t designed or sourced anything yet!
Designing a collection usually takes months and involves trend research, setting the creative direction, sourcing materials, sketching, draping and pattern making. Then samples are sewn and need to be fitted usually up to three times which involves revising the paper patterns, recutting fabric, sewing and fitting on the fit model until the fit is just right. During all that, costing and pricing are sorted out and at the very end a photo shoot is done to tell the brand story and marketing materials are created to sell the products.
It takes the involvement of many people who specialize in each of these areas to create a collection and bring it to market. A designer’s role typically involves some materials sourcing and designing the collection through sketching and drawing, mostly on the computer these days. Because at this time I am the Creative Director and the CEO of a small budding fashion brand, I am driving and managing the whole system, working with several contractors and interns to create my collections.
To complete multiple intentionally designed and professionally presentable pieces in 48 hours is nearly impossible! There’s no time to work with patternmakers or sample sewers for creating my line. There’s no time to source new materials. I have to work with what I have in house and I have to do it all myself.
As I begin, I feel overcome with gratitude for the education I received from Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York and Polimoda in Italy, the amazing schools I attended, for giving me such a solid foundation to be able to show up in this moment of my life and deliver. So I cancel everything in my schedule for the next couple days and stay up late sketching, deciding on materials, draping, cutting, sewing and patternmaking and with a big sigh of relief ship several pieces off to NYC.
As the days go by, the rush of designing those pieces starts to feel like a distant dream. I’m not sure if anything will come of those feverish efforts and there are many other things to attend to.
About two weeks later I am in the front yard of my parents house visiting with my family on a warm summer afternoon when the phone rings. It is Katya Foreman. She asks if I am in front of my computer. I’m not and she asks if I can be. I walk into the house, my anticipation cautiously building. She says she wants to send me an email and to be on the phone with me when I see it. She waits as I open my email and then she sends the file. I’m in utter SHOCK. I can’t believe my eyes which are starting to tear up.
She joyfully says, “Congratulations, Anna! Your dress is on the cover!”
I am beside myself with awe and excitement. She explains that she called so that she could be with me to witness me receiving this news and share in the exciting moment. It is one of the most incredible validations that this vision and intention I have to bring healing into the fashion industry is working; that it is real, is valued and the world is ready to hear it.
This cover story is a HUGE deal and it catapults my brand into getting more and more attention, therefore spreading this surge of energy and healing through the industry.
For more on my journey in the fashion industry, see Flight to Paris.
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Great story Anna. It’s fun to relive this extraordinary experience!