- I always thought it was strange to alienate
someone who wants to spend money on your work.
I think that that's really weird.
That's like an artist saying like, "Oh,
"you can't hang," you know, "my art in your house."
I just think that that's a strange concept.
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I think you can't really plan for who
your customer's gonna be or who wants to wear
your clothes or who wants to buy your clothes.
You never know.
I'm sure there's designers out there
that are kind of like maybe wishing they had
certain customers and not, but you just can't plan for it.
So I guess we were just always open to people.
I was always had such a diverse group of friends
and growing up and my family was, you know,
all different shapes and sizes.
So I just was very used to that.
And I think that that was very helpful for me
in my process when I think about, you know, making a dress.
I think about all the different types
of people that can wear it.
Definitely like early in my career was really
interesting to have all these different types
of people reaching out for clothes.
I guess just being like a young designer
and like learning, I was kind of, I was just
excited to have all these different types
of people wanna wear something.
And I guess like the reaction from everyone
else was there was good and bad, which there always is.
You know, I remember when we first dressed
Christina Hendricks people were like, "Oh,
"you can't put that type of woman in that type of dress."
And I always thought that was weird.
I'm like, "Oh because she's curvy?"
Like that doesn't make sense.
But now more than ever I think what's great
is that now we're in a time that we just try
to celebrate people.
And that is very, very helpful.
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I think this idea of, you know, celebrating
all these different types of people
or celebrating beauty or whatever that is,
whatever the definition of that is,
it's hard for not only the fashion industry
but the world to get onboard because they're just
not used to it.
And I think change is hard for people
to understand sometimes.
It's so interesting to see how, you know,
people like, "Oh, you have to support women.
"You have to support all these different types
"of women who are curvy or come
"from a different background."
But then sometimes when I'll read comments
people still really judge people based on
what they look like.
So it's like one side of the world is like,
"Oh, we're trying to celebrate people,"
and then the other side of the world
is still judging them for what they look like.
So we're in a bit of a balance right now
that it's kind of a contradiction
and that's what we're trying to, I think,
everyone needs to overcome.
It's not just the fashion industry.
It's also people at home that are commenting on pictures.
So it kinda goes both ways.
And I think that that's the balance
that at least I'm noticing we're all trying to figure out.
And it is changing but it's definitely gonna take time.
I think what's interesting about this whole,
the whole idea of fashion and how it's changing
is it's about mixing and matching and having,
I don't know, something from all walks of life.
And I think that's how I grew up.
You know, I mean, my mom was a teacher
and couldn't afford everything, and my sister
was a ballet dancer in this fantasy dreamworld,
so I tried to marry the two together, I think.
And I do that in every collection.
You know, we have Payless shoes on the runway.
I do collaborations with mass brands all the time.
And I love that.
I mean, I think what we've kinda found
is again, like this idea of being no rules
in fashion is that why can't we dress, you know,
an amazing Oscar-winning actress and then also
dress someone who, I don't know,
lives in Ohio and, you know, works at Starbucks.
Who cares?
Like I don't care what you do, I don't care
what's happening in your world.
If you wanna wear something from our collection
then you should be able to.
And I think that that has always been my mentality there.
And that goes for someone who wants to spend $20
or someone who wants to spend $20,000.
You know, I think it's the same thought process there.
The biggest commitment is this idea of almost
that it's not really a topic anymore.
That would be nice.
Oh, it's just normal to see curvy girls on the runway.
It's normal to see all these different types
of cultures and ethnicities.
It takes everyone.
It takes editors, it takes retailers, it takes consumers.
It just takes everyone.
And that's the challenge.
It's such a big collective voice.
It's happening in the music industry.
It's happening in this industry.
It's happening in a lot of industries.
So I think it's like time will tell.
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