“Fashion styling and dressing up has always been my bliss, that passion has grown, evolved and eventually lead me to this beautiful life and moment in time.”
At my core, I am still that little girl who would spend hours playing dress up, idolized Barbie, and discovered a passion for sewing at a young age. I was five years old when I was introduced to my first sewing project; my mother and I made pillows together. I remember we took white fabric and hand dyed the fabric pink. We then traced out three small heart shapes and my mother proceeded to machine sew the pillows together as I watched her every move intently. She taught me how to fill the little pillows and once we had them assembled, we hand embroider each pillow with a single word. Love. Joy. Hope. I was so proud of those little pink heart shaped pillows we made together that day!
My interest in sewing really took flight during a visit to a friend's house whose mother was a seamstress. As I walked through the workshop, I was intrigued by everything around me: the machines, the fabrics, threads of every color, all the strange and beautiful notions... all of it. From that moment on, all I wanted to do was sew and create beautiful clothing! My mother was always one to encourage creativity and surprised me with a beautiful gold and white 1950's Singer sewing machine. She taught me a few sewing basics and set me to creating.
As a teenager, I discovered a love for all things vintage and would often take vintage pieces and alter or re-design them into something new and beautiful. I would spend hours styling and pairing pieces together, mixing vintage with modern, creating a style of my very own. Through hair, makeup and fashion, I would create a different persona and reinvent myself on a daily basis. What fun I had! I can remember spending hours pouring over fashion magazines, enthralled with the images and super models of the era, studying the scenes, fashions, hairstyles, and the makeup. Dreaming of someday being a part of that beautiful and magical world.
“Fast forward to several years later, as I was just starting out on my journey as a fashion designer. Little did I know, in a few months time, I would be meeting and falling in love with the man of my dreams on the set of a photo shoot. I laugh a bit to myself because I was never the girl who believed in soulmates. Although, a soulmate was exactly what my heart was searching for.”
As I reflect on where the path to each other really began to take shape, I'm taken back to the spring of 2008, during my first excursion to Fayetteville, Arkansas. I instantly felt at home and fell in love with the young, artsy culture and vibe of that funky little city in the Ozarks. Later that year in the autumn months, I made the leap and set out on an incredible journey of self discovery, that would forever change me and the way I viewed world. In that pursuit of my passions, I found struggles, chaos, and uncertainty; it was in those moments of turmoil, I found my voice and called upon my inner goddess.
The year before Austin and I met, our life journeys and creative pursuits were simultaneously paving the way to each other. My path and passion for fashion design was just starting to take shape and Austin's love of fashion photography was taking flight. During that time, we were both on a journey of becoming. Our hearts were adrift, searching for something to connect to; our paths were destined to collide even if we didn't fully realize it at the time. The path to each other was fraught with storms and struggles, life lessons and growing pains; in that search for our place in the universe, striving for independence, encountering loss, heartbreak and emotionally unfulfilled relationships. We were learning what we were made of in these endeavors, misadventures and triumphs.
“In that pursuit of my passions, I found struggles, chaos, and uncertainty; it was in those moments of turmoil, I found my voice and called upon my inner goddess.”
As I recall the days, months, years leading up to our first encounter, I see the connections, the twist and turns of our lives, and the choices made, both in and out of our control that have been woven together, leading us to that fateful moment in time; that moment in time where I would find my soulmate and the love of my life.
Our hearts knew instantly that we were kindred spirits just waiting for the other. On that journey to each other, through all the chaos, struggles and heartache, we found a driving force and inner strength to follow our dreams and embrace the talents God had given; following those dreams to our mutual destiny and finding a home within each other.