Fashion Student
How did I get here?
The ordeal of abandoning ship, the ship being my previous career path, was really one of my biggest hurdles in being a fashion design student. I somehow let myself be talked out of following my design dreams. I was young, naive and taught to never question authority figures. So… when the college admissions adviser told me, “You have to live, eat and breath fashion every waking minute of your life. Anything less and this major isn’t for you.” I believed her. I was scared and I believed her. In hindsight, this veer into the world of production only made me a much stronger job candidate for the future AND that much more certain I wanted to be a Fashion Designer. The saying you never know how much you love something till it’s gone would semi apply to this portion of my career path. After thoroughly exhausting the avenue of an alternative money making career, I fully hitched my wagon back to the dream of being a Fashion Designer.
Finding a city was next on my agenda of quarter life crisis. Living in the San Francisco area my entire life, I felt that I needed a change of scenery. New York absolute terrified me and felt like it could culture shock me into a deep shell of insignificance. L.A has always seemed like a possible destination, but I already know the competitive nature and drive to be seen in that city wouldn’t go over well with my mellow personality. Nashville had this strange allure to it. I viewed this place as a welcoming and emerging hub full of young creatives and opportunity. Once I discovered O’more College of Design, I jumped all in. I got in my little car with my dog and younger sister, for moral support and began the wild journey across country to my new reality as a Fashion Design student.
The design student reality hit hard. It’s putting your heart and soul into learning, failing, and trying again till you’ve mastered a new skill “enough” and then moving onto the next foreign concept. We all, as students, are putting in countless hours of dedication while trying to run a life filled with family, relationships, working and interning. I’ve learned a lot of what I’m willing to sacrifice and compromise on in order to succeed. I almost feel like there’s no choice. There’s something weirdly exhilarating and debilitating at the same time about knowing this is my last go at school. From the depths of my soul, I cannot foresee a future where I’m going back to college to reroute a career for a 3rd time.
I’m doing this now. So its an all in now or never mentality till graduation. Two years in and I’ve still never been more sure of anything in my life. I’m at exactly the right place doing exactly the right thing to get to the future I want for myself.
