Underneath your clothes
My first sketch books are dated around age 6 or 8. I wanted to be a fashion designer before I even understood what that meant. I kept albums of magazine clippings. I would get lost in the fabric isles. I would obsess over the pattern logs.
From an early age I started putting it all together. I would bring my ideas to my grandmother and ask her to make me my latest inspiration. I could never get enough. I would construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct. And then have a whole other direction I wanted to go in.
At the end of highschool I remember holding two acceptances in my hand. One for Ryerson Fashion Design, one for McGill University. There was an internal push and pull, but ultimately Montreal won.
In my late twenties the call came in again, this time stronger, this time I decided to do something about it. While I was working fulltime in Social Justice, I started a sustainable fashion line that teased with the interplay of ‘under-outerwear’. Lingerie inspired clothing. Mascilune and femine lines. Hard and soft. Sexy, sensual, playful, ...
I played for a couple seasons, and was fortunate to be a finalist in a competition, but ultimately somewhere left it in a moment in time. One day I'm sure to revisit.
i am ayla
born in the east, raised in the west
daughter of two academics, both artists
masters in human rights, committed to social justice
love affair with travel, art, and food
speaks four languages, laughs in all