Fashion School Flashback

Right after I got out of GW, I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City for a short while. I had a great time there and loved being surrounded by so much creativity everyday. I had a really nice room too, with our own bathroom and kitchen that connected two bedrooms. My roommate Fifi (Fiorella), was a Goth and one of the nicest persons I've ever met.

I was so fresh & new to fashion illustration then, lol. Those are my professor's notes along with mine on the sketch. My "B-" grade, lol, had a lot to do with the fact that while I could draw, I was also being graded on my muslin toile and clothing construction was something I was in the process of learning.

My classes were challenging and I loved them (except patternmaking, which I hated). My only problem was that, while I was good at designing, at that time I wasn't that great at sewing on a machine. It was also pretty stressful too. A lot of hard work. For me, I was living out a dream, but it was at the cost of my health. The better and better I was doing in classes like draping, illustration, and sewing, the worse and worse I was feeling, due to a heart problem that caused me a lot of chest pain. I ended up having to withdraw due to my health, which made me very sad.

While helping to clean my grandmom's basement earlier today, we found my draping class work--muslin toiles complete with the sketches. I couldn't help but sit there touching them and looking at them, as I had very little from my time there up to that point. It almost felt like a dream. I am so glad we found it. It felt like finding a little piece of myself...