This title is a little confusing. I guess It should read about me, but that just seemed so egotistical................!
I did think you might want to know about my background, so here it is in a nutshell.
I was an instructor of fashion design at a local design school here in Nashville for the last 10 years. How I got to Nashville still amazes me. Never in a million years did I think I would end up in the south.
I was born in Los Angeles, California and started sewing when I was just 8 years old. I loved dolls and never had enough doll clothes. My best friend's mom was an excellent seamstress and taught me how to sew. As I got older, I made my own clothes, and then started sewing for friends which lead to me "sewing for the band" as the old song goes.
I designed and made clothes for many bands over the next 10 years. Some you may have heard of include, Blondie and the Go Go's. I started touring with some of the bands I worked for so had a chance to see most of our beautiful county and meet lots of wonderful people. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. The place of course was Hollywood.
Touring was fun but eventually I realized I had better find a more reliable source of employment and although my clothes had been copied by manufacturers, I couldn’t get a design job with any of them because I didn’t have a degree in fashion. I ended up going to school at the Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design. It took me 5 years instead of 4 because I quit to do another tour. School was expensive!
I got a job working for Contempo Casuals right out of school. you may know the company now as Wet Seal. I designed Junior Sportswear and dresses. Later, I designed for the Missy market which I didn’t like. I was bored doing that so was interested when I got a call for a job in Chattanooga, TN working for Buster Brown Apparel. I ended up designing for kids, which was a lot like costume design in the sense you can have lots of fun with the clothes.
My plan had been to only go to Chattanooga for a year and then go back home to California, but I ended up loving the south so much that I never moved back.
Have a question? You can email me anytime.