For the Forbidden Love
Clothing is a forbidden love, “styling” a dream out of site, or at least that is how I have lived. Trust me this was not a comfortable place to be. I love style and clothing, there is nothing more amazing than flirting with a look that speaks to the core of a person. Not to mention the act of self-care that styling sparks for me.
Not sure why I am putting this down here other than I feel like it. I am called to speak my truth about the relationship I have cultivated or lack thereof with styling.
The Great Recession swept across the nation in my early 20s, it was the first big calamity that had ever affected me personally. After moving back in with my mother, with shattered dreams and no self-esteem. I knew I needed some kind of direction in my life. I spent time reflecting, but I wanted to find something inside of me that was around me all my life as if I had been raised for the completion of that kind of work.
One thing led to another and I realized that thing I was looking for was sewing clothing and fabrics. At first, my interest was solely in costumes. I spent hours sketching out designs I wanted to make. With a little encouragement, I looked online for a school for fashion design. My mother was very enthusiastic about one of her children going to college as she never did. I promised her before she passed away in 2014 that I would finish my associate's degree in fashion design and she lived long enough to see me complete that goal. Passing away later in that same year in 2014.
I could have gone to school for costume design, but there was something about the clothing itself that called to me. After all historical costumes are nothing more than fashions that are very out of date.
It took me 8 years to graduate from The Academy of art University with my associate's degree and I am very proud, that I did graduate. A part of me also feels ashamed that it took me 8 years to get a two-year degree. It may sound like a long time for only a 2-year degree, however, The Academy of Art University only has a 10% graduation rate. Plus, I attended this school online with dyslexia before it was common to attend online classes. I finished school in 2014 the same year my mother died.
Classes were not easy for me, I did not have access to good reading software. The kinds we have nowadays are leaps and bounds better. So I got creative, sometimes finding people to read me my chapters and other times painstakingly reading and rereading the chapter. Eventually, I found software through my search browser that would read website pages and that changed my life. I still use the same software to this day!
After graduating, I took a break from styling and sewing because my husband and I moved back to Michigan. When we got to Michigan, I switched directions with fashion and looked into the personal stylist aspect of clothing. It took me some time to get my act together but eventually, I graduated from Style Coaching Institute®.
There is a little more to this story but I will get to that in a second blog.
As always stay classy,
