Interview with Ms. Nami!

photo taken from Daily Bruin

Finally, my hell week is over! Luckily, I was able to recharge by going home and sleeping A LOT! So back to business. Hopefully, I'll be posting more frequently :)

Anyways, as promised, I was really enjoyed attending the Nami show that I went to last week, and I mentioned in my last post that I wanted to interview the designer herself. Lucky for me, she even found the time to reply to my emails and giving me in depth details of what inspires her--even when she's on her "baby moon" in Hawaii!  

Sarah holds a BS, MS AND a PhD in Neuroscience. So, I was really surprised she switched from Neuroscience to the oh-so-challenging world of fashion. Turned out, there's a heartfelt backstory.

Her brother was involved in a tragic accident, and he had to be induced into a coma to reduce the swelling in his brain. For part of her research and fellowship, she had to do surgery. There's a degree of relativity between her subjects and her brother's condition. She mentioned, "research subject's struggle for life to be too close to my brother's." With the accident combined with her "2,000 pounds of clothes" (which she weighed through her move from LA to Chicago), along with her love for arts, she pushed into the direction of fashion.   

I've been interested in fashion since I was a little girl--pretty much like every other girl. I once made a dress out of a Saks Fifths garment bag just because I saw a beautiful gown while I was out shopping with my aunt. However, designing isn't something I see myself doing as a future career. There was a special ability that I had as a child to develop a wild imagination--who would have thought...Plastic Garment Bags?! Now, I still love to drown in my own imagination, but that have taken a completely different toll, and I think I've lost my artistic abilities. 

However, to be able to be apart of the fashion world is still a dream, and I asked what advice she would give to a girl like me---someone who have a love for fashion but desperately lack an artistic ability. 

" Learn as many parts of the fashion industry as possible, go to networking events. If you don't have the "talent for designing" then at least try learning what the skills are all about so you understand what it takes to do it all. You'll gain valuable vocabulary about the industry and will make you an intelligent/relevant contributor to the field. Finally, work ethics. Work hard. Many in this industry underestimate how much you need to hustle to make opportunities for yourself and to take advantage of those opportunities. They just don't fall into your lap. Be grateful for those who offer you these opportunities to collaborate as well. On a daily basis, I'm constantly researching, reading, and learning about new bloggers, new fashion websites, new fashion e-commerce sites, emailing editors, etc. Finally, be persistent. Anything worthwhile is not going to be easy, you'll have good days and really bad days where you hate everything about the fashion industry... stay persistent. It's an endurance race. "

Truly understanding the fashion industry is absolutely important, but I never thought of it that through the learning process, I will be able to learn the skills and the right vocabulary, which is very important--especially for this blog! I love waking up to emails of the various sites that I subscribe to, just to see what's going on in the fashion world that day!

Lastly, I've always wondered what a designer's daily life is like. Are they always designing? Do they keep up with the business end of their company? Turned out, Sarah does ALL these things (I couldn't help but resist the meme allusion). Because Nami is an emerging business, Sarah has a lot of responsibilities, from designing, to delegating, to speaking to the manufacturers, etc. However, she start out the day by checking emails, because reading about trends and new blogs are some of her sources of inspiration. A typical work day will "start at 8am and work doesnt cease til about 10pm-1am (depending on the day)." As for her schedule to release her lines, she "designs 3-4 times a year to produce 2 collections."

Sarah "loves feeling busy and productive and watching the overall trajectory of the company on the rise. And, of course, most importantly I spend time with my family to unwind and take my mind off of work."

Now that you know a bit about Sarah and Nami, isn't everything so much more interesting? Sarah gave me very elaborate answers for my questions. For that, I am so grateful, especially because she's on vacation!