It’s challenging to pinpoint the beginning, a few of my interests slowly but surely came together to define the clothing I make. My passion for making started with drawing on all of my homework, and folding paper airplanes that I would draw on to give my friends before recess in kindergarden. I was known to make the best flying paper airplanes in school. The doodling and obsession with craft was continous throughout my childhood.
I grew up always wearing my older brothers hand me downs. I was so frugal growing up that I didn’t think it was worth it to buy clothes with whatever money I had. That is until I discovered thrifting in highschool. This unlocked a whole new world of expression for me. The thrift store is unlike any retail experience, in a way it’s lawless in what you might see on the racks, there’s minimal filtering towards a target customer, often times the size, gender, etc is not separated or organized. That might sound tiring to shuffle through but I found it all the more thrilling. Also the pricing is accessible, with a little bit of effort, I could have amazing clothing for around 5 dollars. I loved the fact that nobody could show up at school with the same shirt as me.
My drawings led to screen printing shirts and hoodies to sell to my friends. I loved the process of printing and working on graphics for clothing. After a while though I wanted to make more than just t-shirts and hoodies. I was sketching entire wardrobes of what I dreamed to wear, I just didn’t have a clue how to make them real.
So I had to learn sewing. The excess of clothes I’d thrifted found soon became my fabric to learn. I’m great at buying and terrible at getting rid of clothing. The way I see it, everything old garment could become something new. When I’m close to saying goodbye to a piece I see the raw materials and what I could do with it. My first sewing projects were janky tote bags made from cargo pants. I thought it was genius to sew the large cargo pockets together and use the waistband as the bag strap. This initial gut process of taking apart and finding new ways to piece the puzzle together has returned to inform a lot of my work now.
In college at Rhode Island School of Design I formally learned to sew and pattern make. I’m currently studying with a cutter and tailor where I’m learning in depth about patternmaking, textiles, bespoke construction. I think repurposing is the perfect storm of my worlds coming together, (collecting vintage vs making sustainable fahsion.) Each garment is painstakingly constructed by me, with meticulous attention put into the design and details. Non seasonal pieces, wardrobe staples made from and informed by vintage clothing. I’m lucky to find fabric and inspiration in vintage. I believe using what we already have is one of the best ways to be sustainable.