Blazer: H&M (old, similar.) Skirt: My Design: Ikat Rust. Tights: Old Navy. Blouse: MyDesign. Wedges: BGBGeneration.(similar.)
Do you want to hear a sad story? Not terribly sad, more unfortunate really. And it has to do with a blouse, so you aren’t going to shed any tears or anything, although I may have. (not disclosing)
Once upon a time, I woke up with a design in my head. That happens occasionally (all the time) and I decided that if my life were to be complete, this design which was just in my head, must become a reality. So I got to work, because that’s how designs that are only in your head become designs hanging on a rack and then in someone’s closet and then off their shoulders, a whole lot of work. And obsession. Over a year of it, to be exact. Changing, perfecting, getting the length/width of the tie just right, the fit, every button hole properly in place, finding the most perfect, beautiful bird fabric on the planet, sourcing buttons, and when it was all done, we had a lovely little secretary blouse that made all my vintage dreams come true. And then the cost. It was just. so. high. And try as we might we couldn’t get it down low enough to even consider making them, let alone make any kind of profit. The day that Mr and I sat down and really, really decided there was no possible way we could make these blouses, I cried. I won’t lie. My designs are like my babies. Not in the way my human actual babies are my babies, but they are my ba-biessss. If you know what I mean. And seeing a dream, all that work and effort shelved for at least a season until we can come up with a better way to make them, or at least a more reasonable cost effective one, it kind of hurt. This is the struggle with owning a creative business. You have to balance staying true to your vision, your art (yes clothing design is art!) with the cold hard financial realities associated with distributing that vision.
I don’t really know where I am going with this except that I wanted this blouse to see the light of day, because it’s lovely and has whimsical little birds flying across it, and a pretty bow at the neck. And it kind of deserves at least a nod at the outside world. It’s been exiled to the far recesses of the studio for months, because honestly, for the first little while I couldn’t even look at it without getting sad, or kind of grumpy. Anyways, for now you can enjoy it via the interwebs and know that at least for a little while it’s one-of-a-kind. I guess that is something.
Hopefully not,
the end.
