Evolution

One of the things I love about being a designer is taking an idea and seeing it through to fruition.  It's actually a pretty amazing thing -- you start with something that doesn't exist and create it.  There is something very powerful about possessing the ability to do that -- to build something.

napkin scribble!

I enjoy looking back through my sketchbook, remembering where I was at the time and what I was thinking, and then comparing that to the finished product.  Sometimes, sketches evolve into something very different than what I intended to achieve in the original sketch and sometimes they stay pretty constant.  Either way, it's interesting to compare the flat, two-dimensional sketch to the tangible, three-dimensional garment.

The dess on the runway at the Chicago Gold Coast Awards Show in September

In preparation for my taxes this week, I was sifting through several manila envelopes filled receipts when I found a sketch that I had doodled on an airport napkin.  I remember sitting in the claustrophobic seat on a crowded plane, scribbling this sketch through turbulents.  I was in the process of designing my Fall 2012, Modern World Collection and I had a vision that I desperately wanted to capture before I forgot, so the airport napkin had to suffice.  One of the many things I learned from Jerry Seinfeld is to keep a pad at all times to jot down ideas so you don't forget.  Jerry knows best!