Part I: What Made Me Want to Become A Designer?

This is a question I get asked quite a bit. To be honest, I wanted to be a fashion designer since I was in junior high. I always had an affection for clothing and accessories. My mother laughs as she reflects over my youth and says "it was so obvious in retrospect that you were interested in fashion even as a young girl - but I never realized it at the time." She remembers how, as an adolescent, I was constantly trying on my clothes and mixing and matching them. I would continually be organizing and "merchandising" my closet. One of the things I loved to do was to venture into my moms closet and create new looks for her to wear. She would lay on her bed and I would put together outfits for her to wear. She would challenge me to coordinate ensembles with items that she found herself not wearing. I was hooked on fashion magazines. At that time in my life I slaved over Vogue Magazine, W Magazine and of course Seventeen Magazine. I loved putting together notebooks of tear sheets of my favorite fashion shoots. My closet walls were filled w/ tear outs of looks that I thought were interesting or creative. I had to wear a uniform to school. I think that almost encouraged my creativity. Trying so hard to find a way to be fashionable and unique while adhering to a school dress code was definitely a challenge I was up for. We had "free dress" day the last Friday of each month and I would spend the three weeks prior figuring out what to wear for that one day!! Oh to be sixteen again!

For me, the idea of becoming a fashion designer or studying fashion design was a total mirage. I never even considered a career in fashion or let alone a degree. It was just too "New York" - and that was soooo over my little head! I grew up in a lovely midwestern town of 400,000 people and although times have definitely changed, at that time, fashion was just not a serious career topic! I recall taking a sewing class at my high school, Kapaun Mount Carmel, and I remember the nun who taught the class, Sister Lucy, just thought I was a wild woman with the dress pattern I chose and fabric I purchased. Fashion was a joyful passion and hobby. It was never something I considered taking seriously because a career opportunity in that area was just not in my environment.

The reality finally sunk in when I was attending my second college, The Savannah College of Art and Design (I attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska my freshman year), and was pursuing a degree in interior design. I just wasn't "into it" like I had thought I would be. I was working part time in a clothing store on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and just loved, loved, loved clothing! Still! It just finally hit me that I needed to be studying fashion design...not communication, not interior design....FASHION! That is when it all came together for me. I immediately transferred schools for my third and last time. I received my bachelors degree from Woodbury University with a degree in fashion design. I loved every minute of school from there on out. I excelled in all my classes and graduated with honors. Go figure!

Stay tuned for Part II: What Made Me Want to Become A Jewelry Designer?