The One Thing I Know For Sure: There Will Be Sewing!

So here I am, nine months into the Fashion Design Program at Pacific Design Academy in Victoria BC and I’m being asked “What do I want to get out of this? What do I want to do with the knowledge gained once it’s in my perfectly polished, pin pricked hands?”

I want to be a fashion designer! I want to be the fashion designer: Of the moment, of the minute, of the evening. I want to see people appreciating and wearing my designs. I want to create for other people, the same visceral reaction I feel when I lay my eyes upon a beautifully constructed piece of wearable art: a frisson, a gasp, a smile and the undeniably feeling of “I want!” (Or, even better, “I have to have.”).

I did have a plan going in: I wanted to have my own boutique featuring a mix of local and international designers with varied points of view and price points. I envisioned a mini department store with separate areas for a very exclusive selection of shoes, handbags, jewelry, outer wear and, of course, dresses galore! A boutique whose patrons would come from far and wide for both the selection and the experience: Champers in the fitting area, tasteful music piped from hidden speakers, a fabulous mirrored chandelier sparkling in the middle of the room and a gaggle of talented stylists at the ready with shoes and bangles to top of the perfect little frock. My New Dress may still come to fruition as it was envisioned and described above but it may have to take on other forms on the way there.

Let’s face it: The economy sucks right now. This is not the time to sink all of my cash into a business that relies heavily on the disposable income and luxury buying habits of a population that is, at the moment, credit crunched. Don’t get me wrong. I know to the very core of my dress obsessed being that there will always be the need for a pretty new dress (prom, holiday parties, weddings etc). But, with the fashion industry becoming more and more one of mass market consumption and low rent ‘designer’ lines that are made available at prices that make the Recessionista/Frugalista in all of us smile from ear-to-ear, there really needs to be some serious consideration about the feasibility of the My New Dress retail concept that I have always envisioned.

So, that leaves me with a few interim options, all of which we students are being urged to consider. Do I want to take my new knowledge and work for somebody else? Do I want to intern for another designer? Do I want to create and attempt to sell my first post graduation line to local stores? Do I want to move to a location that might seem more conducive to the future success of a fledgling new fashion designer (I cannot consider nor promote the idea of a return to the East Coast…too darn cold for my tropical loving bones!)? Do I want to work as a seamstress and, on the side, create custom dresses and gowns for select clients? Do I want to focus on pattern making? Cutting? Textiles? Project Runway Canada (!)? Do I want to market and hire myself out as a personal stylist? A personal shopper? A retail buyer? A distributor? An agent? A Trend Forecaster? Do I want to do merchandising for store displays and windows? OMG and Whoot! Whoot! (With a little Ugh! thrown in there for good measure) So many opportunities to choose from…The world is my runway!

As I write this today, the plan that is currently percolating involves a kick-ass e-commerce website and a whole lot of sewing! I’ve currently got what I believe to be a great stockpile of designs at the ready. All of these beautiful dresses deserve to see the light of day and are sure to bring the frisson!

So there you have it! Essentially, all of the above words amount to nothing more than a qualified "I'm not sure yet." I'm not at all worried though. In fact, I'm giddy and thrilled about the potential of each and every possibility.

I want My New Dress to be a successful enterprise. The scale of that success certainly remains to be seen and will be determined only by the reaches and/or limits of my desires.