I see myself as a storyteller who happens to write with a needle and thread. As a designer my aim is not to create one good piece of clothing, but rather to create a universe of designs that my audience and I can escape to. My concept is rooted in experiences that come from my childhood and life growing up with an addictive parent. This will be reflected through my design language and in small details used throughout my garments such as fishhooks, rose wax stamps, and feathers. The color palette of my collection takes on a sort of Chiaroscuro, primarily using blacks, whites, beiges, and reds. Silk, cashmere, leather, and silk jersey are examples of some traditional fabrics that will be seen in my collection. I also chose to work extensively with nontraditional fabrics, such as latex, wax, latex coated silk, etc. My decision to work with latex is not random or an aesthetic decision. I am choosing to use this material as rubber is naturally occurring in the poppy plant, which is the same plant used to derive heroin. To me this speaks to the story of my collection and will help me create a contrast in all my looks that represent the innocence of a child and the sickness of an addicted parent. Lastly, the approach to silhouettes in this collection is to design things that have a sensation of being pulled. My designs are intentionally tight in some areas, while loose and flowy in others. My reasoning behind this decision is that I feel like this represents addiction. Addicts are often pulled in two directions and feel anxious or “tight” when sober, but blissful and free when using. My understanding of this comes from going to AA meetings with my mother and listening to what addicts had to say about rock bottom. I never saw my mother as an addict because I was ignorant towards drug use and blinded by her love for me. Despite hearing my mother speak about it in AA I didn’t really understand what addiction was. I knew it was a sickness, and I thought that somehow, I was my mother’s cure. It wasn’t until my aunt Rosa passed from a heroin overdose that my views changed. I remember feeling so angry that day. I sat and tried to wrap my head around the fact that we live in a world where families getting torn apart is just a byproduct of corporate America selling us quick fixes. More than anything I had to learn a lesson that day. I had to learn that you can’t change someone no matter how hard you try and that sometimes the best way you can love someone is to let them go. I promised myself that no matter where I was in life I would never touch heroin instead my drug will be love.