WE’RE ABOUT TO GET UP CLOSE & PERSONAL.

[Updated 10-16-2022]

It all started 6 years ago, when I had the bright idea to pursue a career in fashion. Naturally, I went to school for 4 years to get a degree in Clothing and Textiles & Material Culture, with a minor in ‘Marketing’ (the official minor was Fashion Merchandising at the time, now know as Fashion Business Management, but all this really meant was taking at least a thousand marketing courses. Not that I'm complaining here, I've ended up falling in love with all things marketing related, and work in the marketing industry in my day job).

Immediately, when anyone hears you want to go into fashion, the first assumption is that you want to be a fashion designer. Of course, there's always wonder around starting your own line one day, but for me, the magic lied in the business side of things. I’ve always told everyone I wanted to become a Fashion Buyer, and when they’d stare at me vacantly, I’d tell them I’d like to do the same thing as Rachel Green from Friends (somehow that was a universal answer everyone could understand). At the top of my list along with buying, there was fashion photography, styling and editing at a magazine -now that has been on my list since I was a little girl.

Everyone always told me I was crazy for wanting to pursue fashion in Edmonton, unless I was planning to eventually relocate. While in some ways they’re partially right, I’m also proud to declare that they’re partially wrong. 5 years ago, I began volunteering at Western Canada Fashion Week – a show I had one watched with heart eyes as a high school senior. I soon became accustomed to keeping a calm façade while running around backstage, keeping the show running, and keeping designers agreeable. I got so much flack for being this dedicated to volunteer work, but what my friends couldn’t understand was the thrill of literally being that secret reason of why a show could fail or succeed.

Soon enough, I began meeting brilliant, like minded people, and we eventually became a close-knit tribe. Through that experience, I met my two mentors in fashion (I'll leave them nameless but I'm sure they know who they are!) who have been nothing but an inspiration to me in ways I can’t even describe. They are the reason I’m an advocate for networking, because funnily enough, these friends that I had met by taking good-lighting backstage selfies together with, eventually became a lifeline for me to the fashion world. They were welcoming, and included me, and a few other incredible girls in any local events they could get their hands on. We’ve been through it all – fashion shows, trend reports, bridal expo’s - as they grew into their own and found their way in Edmonton’s fashion industry, they took us with them. I can proudly and confidently declare that in two years, our dream team has worked a good percentage of fashion shows in Edmonton.

Unfortunately, from working multiple shows in Edmonton, I can confirm the stigmatisms around fashion as a ruthless, cut-throat industry. I’ve been sent on coffee runs. I’ve been screamed at. I’ve been talked down to, and made to feel as though this is just the way things will always be. But after seeing others in our group mistreated to the point of needing to step away from the industry, I made a promise to myself to be part of the change I want to see in this industry. With Edmonton as a city that currently has a smaller fashion footprint, we have the opportunity to build our own fashion industry and professional opportunities on our own terms.

Recently, our little gang had a sit down at our latest show to share our journeys with aspiring high school seniors who were shadowing us for the event. Some of us were sharing our dreams and aspirations in fashion, and one common cry was “I’d love to work at a fashion magazine but there aren’t really any in Edmonton!” Whether it was as a stylist, a photographer, an event planner or editor – it was clear we had all seen The Devil wears Prada and we wanted to live those same dreams near our family and friends.

I’d consider myself a rarity in that I absolutely love my family, and I adore Edmonton. There is just such a rich arts and culture scene with so many festivals and conferences, and personally I feel like there’s so many different aspects of Edmonton left for me to enjoy. So trust me when I say I want to pursue fashion but don’t want to move away, I get looked at as if I have a second head. 'Why wouldn’t you want to move? Edmonton is so boring – you should try Toronto!' Don’t get me wrong, those big metropolitan cities are huge and beautiful and the larger than life mentality is invigorating, but why should we have to sacrifice our relationships just to achieve that sense of professional satisfaction? Why should we have to choose between happiness and success, when all you want to do is share your success with the ones you love?

The last position I pursued that was supposed to be a cookie-cutter dream job left me feeling completely stuck and undone. I spent endless days trying to prove to myself and everyone around me that I was more - that I was some sort of overachieving shape-shifter, and could morph into someone I wasn't, but after long hours of standing on concrete floors, both my back (and dreams) were crushed. I felt lost, misdirected and underestimated, and I had no idea where to begin picking up the pieces. I was 21 at the time, and burdened with constant back and knee problems, and I couldn’t help but feel as though I was giving up in choosing my body over a chance for success. It was then I realized that NO job and NO career path and NO dream that was worth pursuing was worth ruining your body over. What dream could even be worth reaching if it would cost me the ability to walk by the age of 23?

I later got my first semi-big-girl-job as a copywriter at a branding firm. Writing had always been a passion of mine, but it had been ages since I seriously sat down to write. I was so elated to start - I loved to write, and I was actually good at it! I wrote at work, I wrote at home, and ultimately picked reading back up, because you need to fill back everything you’re spilling onto paper. I was SO hungry for knowledge – I took online course upon online course about anything I could get my hands on, and any certification that could take me deeper into the world of marketing and communications. I had the opportunity to create. I found my beat in content creation, and immediately became re-enamored with the world of creatives. That feeling of creating, of doing something big and beautiful and conceptualizing an idea from nothing was one of the most professionally invigorating experiences! As I created, I knew I was capable, and I knew I had the experience and creativity to build a life for myself from what others might call ashes.

This is one of the crux reasons why I so deeply want elevate and work alongside the local brands in Edmonton and Alberta who have stuck it out. The brands who saw that same special essence I saw in this city, and stayed to help kindle the fire. The same brands that like me, have an intricate back story that weaves into the web of local arts and culture - the brands who want to do fashion differently than the toxic microcosms seen in pop culture. If even a  sliver of you is considering starting something here, let me be the first person to say: we need you. We've been waiting for you for quite some time now.

You want something created by your own hands? Build it. You want a hobby to bloom into something you can be proud of? Cultivate it. You want to start growing and spreading your project to higher places? Ask for it – and don’t apologize, don’t feel unworthy and don’t sell yourself short. Ask for more than you think you’re worth, because your possibility to grow exponentially is endless. Ask for that much, and take it confidently. Because friends, a person who accepts what they ask for, is a person who will be given much, much more. That’s a dreamer who knows their worth, who is unapologetic, and sets their own standard of value.

A dreamer who is daring to ask for the world, will absolutely and completely take this world by storm.

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