Designing me: a re-introduction.

I'd like you to re-meet Michi, a designer in the making. She searches for inspiration and makes drawings on a daily basis. Even when she's sleeping she's dreaming up new designs. In a nutshell: she's a person who's world is always filled with clothing.



It might be weird to re-introduce myself like this, but it's not a lie I'm telling you. I am a designer in the making, even if I get as unlucky as to never become bigger then my friend circle I'll still be a designer as long as I design my own clothes, and I do look for inspiration every day on tumblr and the other corners of internet. As for making drawings, the drawings in my school notes count as miniature designs, as well. You have no idea how many cute drawings I have in between my notes. And yes, even in the dreams that I remember I usually remember the clothes of that dream as well. I remember this one Alice-in-wonderland kind of dream with a gorgeous dress and a weird military and diver kind of suit later on. And a butterfly wedding dress in a different dream. I may not always seem 100% dedicated to the outside world, but...

Clothing is my center. Everything I am interested in and do usually has something to do with clothing. My love for anime and manga? Began with liking the clothing and design of the Sailormoon, Card captor Sakura, Digimon and Pokemon characters, and that list only grew longer the more Anime I watched. Even now the manga I like most (V.B. Rose, Nana and Paradise kiss) are about clothing one way or another. My love for theater? Purely because of the clothing. Of course the theater piece has to be interesting to see, but if the costumes are plain in my eyes the play just won't catch my attention. I actually cried when the 'animal' from the Lion King entered the theater because I felt so overwhelmed. My love for the actual country of Japan? Started with seeing a picture of a geisha and girls in kimono (traditional Japanese wear that is now mostly used for festivals) and later bloomed even further because of the Japanese modern clothing such as the Harajuku and Shibuya styles. The list goes on and on (and if you want to know more about this, just leave a comment in the comment box).

(source)

Page from the V.B. Rose manga


And yet I have to admit I've hardly done anything with this something I consider to be so important to me for the last 3 years. I still blame some of my teachers from the fashion school for closing me inside a box, not allowing me to design within the Lolita styling I was so obsessed with during that time, and making me almost hate creating clothing because I can't think of commercial/ready for mass production designs. In the end I'll also have to admit that it was my own fear of failure and being different, and thus being looked down upon, kept me from getting involved with fashion the way I actually really want to. I'm the main reason I hardly did anything with my love for fashion for the past 3 years. But I'm going to change that around, as of right now!

Currently I'm taking baby steps toward becoming the designer I want to be. No one ever said that becoming or being a designer is easy, even though it seems to come completely natural to designers like Karl Lagerfeld, nor is there any book that really tells you how to become a designer. The books that are out there will give you some handles on how to design, how to create clothing and maybe how to market your cloths, but in the end you just have to work your ass off, keep doing the things you like and enjoy, and have a hell of a lot of luck.

I'd like my goal to be to become a world famous designer, but for now I think I'm being more realistic if I say I want to become a designer in my own right, a designer that designs and makes her own clothing and the clothing of those who like and want her cloths. Once I've reached that I can start aiming higher, wanting to share my vision and cloths with the world, to add my coloring to this world of grays. But for now, baby steps. Some drawings here, some messed up clothing and failed styling attempts there, working until I'm happy with the results, but most importantly: standing up when I fall down and just keep doing the things I love.

Becoming something is about trying to become it, and not giving up until you've become it. So let's become whatever the hell we want to become. We have the freedom to do so, so let's not waste that precious gift.

Until next time!
And don't feel shy about leaving a comment!