MY FASHION STUDENT JOURNEY....SO FAR

MY FASHION STUDENT CAREER BEGAN TWO YEARS AGO AT BELMONT University IN NASHVILLE, TN. WHEN I WALKED INTO THE O'MORE DESIGN BUILDING ON CAMPUS MY FIRST DAY, I WAS TERRIFIED. I HAD NEVER SEWN A DAY IN MY LIFE AND DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. LITTLE DID I KNOW, THE PROFESSORS SEE THIS ALL THE TIME AND ARE PREPARED FOR IT. I, HOWEVER, THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO BE THE ONLY ONE IN THE CLASS WITH NO TRUE EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE SEWING MACHINE, BOY WAS I WRONG.

Though the garments i made that year were not extravagantly beautiful, i learned so much that IT became more than CONSTRUCTING the garments, IT BECAME ABOUT SOAKING EVERY LITTLE DETAIL IN, AND LEARNING VALUABLE LESSONS TO TAKE WITH ME THROUGHOUT MY CAREER. One of the first and most IMPORTANT valuable lessons was to never give up. You just need to try and try again at first, and eventually you will get the hang of it. There were many times that year and my sophomore year that i wanted to give up, but i kept going. one of the key things i started doing when i felt this way was TO walk away. sometimes i just needed a 15-20 minute break to clear my mind, come back, and figure out what the problem was. I CAN'T COUNT THE AMOUNT OF TIMES I HAD TO DO THIS. BUT, WHAT I KNOW IS THAT EVERYTIME I CAME BACK WITH A CLEAR MIND AND LESS STRESS AND WAS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT I NEEDED TO ACCOMPLISH. THESE LITTLE VICTORIES BECAME SOMEHING I STARTED TO LOOK FORWARD TO. i started to look forward to when i came to a bump in the road, and i needed to figure out how to get around it myself. this bumps helped me see that i was truly learning and growing here, and got me more and more excited to go into the studio, to see how much i truly know.

THE NEXT LESSON I LEARNED Came TOWARDS THE END OF MY SOPHOMORE YEAR. IT was to keep in mind that my project will get done on time. many times i felt like i was not going to be able to make the due date with the garment i was working on. but once i keep powering through it i would eventually finish, then i would get the same feeling with the next garment. eventually, i started to notice that I WAS MAKING IT ON TIME AND GETTING OVERLY STRESSED FOR NOTHING. NOW WHEN I EXPERIENCE THIS FEELING, I TAKE A DEEP BREATH IN, AND A DEEP BREATH OUT, AND REMIND MYSELF THAT I WILL GET IT DONE. I REMIND MYSELF NOT TO OVERLY STRESS ABOUT IT BECAUSE THAT IS WHEN I START MAKING SILLY MISTAKES THAT WOULD NEVER OF HAPPENED, HAD I JUST TAKEN A BREATH. (walking away also helps with this one!)

a big part of my fashion journey is asking questions! ask questions to your professor or a classmate. your professors love hearing your questions, plus that is what they are there for. i know that many times my freshmen year, and even the start of my sophomore year, i was too scared to ask questions. i would either wait and see if someone else asked it or try to figure out the problem myself. but, once i started asking questions, i never stopped. even if the question is as simple as asking my professor to come and make sure what i have done is correct. I do this all the time, just to double check myself, and never have i had a bad experience from my professor when asking a question. even if i feel like the question is dumb, and that their answer was so obvious. no question is a dumb question, seriously! even your professors think this, the amount of silly questions i have asked just to be sure of something is astronomical. but, they have never made me feel like my question was dumb. they actually seem excited every time a classmate or i ask them a question. they love teaching, it is why they have the job they have. so ask questions and let them teach you!

I'm sure there are many more lessons for me to learn, and i can't wait to see what they are. but, these are the lessons i have learned so far in fashion school, at least the most important ones! i still have two years left to go and a whole career path ahead of me. I know that there are going to be so many new things to learn and i can't wait to see what they are, and then to be able to share them with you!