FROM CONCEPT TO PRODUCTION
By the time I got to Illustration, CAD, and Product Development, something had shifted — I wasn't just learning techniques anymore, I was learning how to move an idea through every stage, from concept to something that could actually be manufactured.
ILLUSTRATION — STARTING WITH VISION
Illustration was a short, intensive week. We learned to draw the Coqui — proportion, movement, how fabric falls on a figure. It wasn't about perfect art, it was about communicating an idea. For the final project we designed a collection around the Coqui, and that was the first time I saw a concept take visual form before it existed in pattern or fabric. What mattered most: I actually went on to make one or two of the designs I'd illustrated — a full-circle moment, sketch to reality.
BROWZWEAR — PRECISION IN PIXELS
Then came Browzwear, and honestly, it was frustrating. It didn't feel intuitive the way draping did, or controlled the way drafting did — it was technical in a different way entirely. But it forced precision. Digital garments don't hide mistakes — seams have to align, balance has to be right, construction has to actually make sense. It showed me how the industry visualizes garments before sampling, and even though it wasn't my favourite process, it stretched me. Design doesn't only live in fabric, it lives in files too.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT — THINKING LIKE A MANUFACTURER
Product Development brought it all together. We had to design an outfit, draft it, construct it, then build a complete tech pack as if it were actually going to a manufacturer — measurements, seam allowances, fabric information, notions, construction notes, costing, category, flats, spec sheets. No room for approximation — if something wasn't clear, a factory couldn't produce it.
That responsibility changed how I approached design. It wasn't just about making something beautiful, it was about making something reproducible. That production mindset — vision through to technical execution to finished garment — still shapes every collection I make today.
Looking back at all of it — fractions that nearly defeated me, a bias dress that still gives me dread, a Walmart bandana shirt I'm still oddly proud of — none of it felt like much in the moment. But put together, it's the reason I think about construction, fit, and fabric the way I do now. Fashion school didn't just teach me to make things. It taught me to make them properly.
You can read more about my complete fashion school journey here.