Michigan Fashion Summit!

Saturday was the highly anticipated Michigan Fashion Summit, at the College of Creative Studies Detroit campus! It was the perfect venue, providing plenty of space and a view of the city. The main room was filled with tables and chairs, snacks and drinks, and vendor tables. My close friend, Allison, of vegan beauty brand Glambitious (glambitio.us), had a stunning table set up for her business. This momentus event was put together by the lovely Founder & CEO Lauren Hicks, Head of PR Tiffany Sims, and Head of Communications Megan Kennedy. The Summit was a conference with a series of interactive workshops in beauty/makeup, styling, modeling, designing, blogging, and business. Here, every member of the fashion community showed up to find their faith in Detroit fashion, and spark inspiration in their craft! There were 15 speakers, including stylist Courtney Miarka of Closet Fashion Fix and The Styled Life, and season 13 of Project Runway contestant, Char Glover. Attendees were treated to speeches from keynote speakers, a fashion show, and the choice of building their own custom class schedule. Char kicked off the day by giving a passionate speech on her journey in fashion by saying "The joy is in the journey", and "Sometimes you stumble upon your gift." The first class I chose was Startup to Established, by Colin McConnell of Detroit Respect. In this session, Colin introduced his company, and the idea of embracing one of the hardest working cities in the world by stating, "A lot of people leave Detroit, but they still want to rock Detrot." As a firm believer in the power we Detroiters have, he insisted we must "get our egos aside, and work together." He also elaborated on how powerful it is to involve oneself in charity by saying, "Instead of us being a clothing line, we're turning into a movement." The second session I attended was Active Blogger by Mia Ray of confessionsofaglamaholic.com. During this class, Mia explained the fundementals of a blog were your "thoughts, views, vision, and voice." With a strong following on social media, she explained that "Instagram is like my online resume, it's like my portfolio. Being a mom, fashion blogger, and entrepreneur, she pressed that "You make time for what you really want to do." The last class I chose was The Polished Look by blogger Grace Liang of colorandgrace.com. Grace offered pointers for social media, like "You must leave a comment. It will be there forever." She also stressed the importance of making genuine relationships by saying, "Do things for others, and you never know how or when they'll pay back." She explained that her goal for this year was "to help Detroit come back." To end the day, we were presented with the opportunity to ask the panel of speakers our questions. When asked "What is one quote to live by?", my favorite answer came from stylist Soonie Itawi, who said "The best way to reach your success is to create it." To me, the Summit achieved everything it set out to do. Move, inspire, inform, and cultivate the people behind the fashion movement of Detroit.

*Thank you to the Michigan Fashion Week team for having me as media coverage!*

Designer Dreams!

"Every day is a new beginning for a happy ending." I've been asked a lot recently what my end goal is. As I've said in other blog posts, my goal is, and always will be, to be a fashion designer. But why does there always have to be an "end goal?" Sounds all very gloomy and impending! Like it should take so long, and once you get there that's the end of it! Why wait, when you can decisively start a dream at any point in your life? That is why I've decided to start my own collection this year. My intention is to create a 10 piece line of my re-imagined original designs. When I say original, I mean some of the very first pieces I ever drew, back in my freshman year of college. Let me just say...yikes! xD It's really satisfying though to see how much I've improved over the past 5 years. It's nice to know after all the practice that I'm able to produce a realistic croqi after seeing my old cartoonish designs! I chose to go back to the start, because that is the line I had imagined to be my first to hit the runways. When my main goal was to be a designer, and not a blogger, or any of the other paths along the way. "Sail Away" by Brittany Ray (I like to think it's catchy and clever ;) ), will be my very first clothing collection. Seemed fitting since I am, and always will be a nautical gal. Now I don't plan on creating it all on my own, seeing as I also discovered my distaste for sewing in the beginning of college! I hope to connect with the growing garment district in Detroit to commission the creation of my clothing! It's going to take some time, but it's exhilarating to know I'm working towards it now! Now don't think that this means I'm quitting blogging. I've still got plenty of adventures in blogging to go, I'm just getting started ;)

VIP Press and Media Reception!

Friday night I attended a VIP Media and Press Reception in preparation for the Michigan Fashion Summit! For those who haven't heard, this one day fashion conference is being held on April 16th at the College of Creative Studies. With guest speakers in each category of fashion, it's sure to be a day full of information, inspiration, and networking. The reception was held at the Pink Pump boutique in the beautiful city of Bloomfield Hills. The Pink Pump was a chic store dedicated to the latest fashions. Allison, creator of vegan beauty brand, Glambitious, was my gorgeous guest. Her beauty line will be one of the vendors displayed and sold at the Fashion Summit. You can also check out her glamorous products at glambitio.us. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a mix of fellow bloggers, journalists, photographers, and designers. I had the pleasure of meeting two local bloggers, Bruna, of style-mile.com, and Grace, of colorandgrace.com. Loren and Tiffany, the creators of Fashion Summit, were very sweet to present themselves and then introduce us to others. There was plenty of shopping, horsederves, and time to mix and mingle. Later on in the evening, there were two small fashion shows. One displayed looks from Pink Pump, and the other showed looks from Loren's own collection. A press conference was then held to answer questions towards the upcoming Summit. Three of the guest speakers were present, and gave a short synopsis of who they were, and what we could expect to learn from them at the event. It was wonderful to meet some local icons, learn more about the Summit, and grab some fun pics by the sponsor wall. We both thoroughly enjoyed the evening, and look forward to the Michigan Fashion Summit in two weeks! See you soon, fashionistas ;*