Like a lot of uni students of a certain age, I have fond memories of unwinding after a day of intense pondering, with a late afternoon episode of Sesame Street … what can I say, it was before the days of youtube and DVD’s.
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Sesame Street was the perfect tonic after hours of Freud and statistics, a deadly combination. So naturally I was intrigued when I saw a designer called Monster Alphabets in this year’s Perth Fashion Festival Designer Collection.
I was also intrigued to find out how the designer made the career move from architecture to fashion. So in keeping with time honoured tradition … this post has been bought to you by … the letter S.
S is for …
Sarah Watanabe the designer behind the minimalist silhouettes and structures on show in her Spring 13 collection. Having found out more about Sarah, S clearly also stands for … someone to watch.
This is Sarah’s first time in PFF and having lived through many Perth summers I was delighted to hear that her collection includes ‘a lot of basic cottons and linens.’ Wisely she said her theory was ‘to keep everything as simple as possible’.
‘I don’t really have an evocative theme, but more of what design and construction aspects I was interested in at the time. The collection features folding and unfolding planes.’
One of my passions is meeting people who have taken the brave move of changing career directions, so besides talking about her collection, we also pondered the move. Having graduated with honours in Architecture at the University of WA, she trained at Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, and first showed her work at the Perth Upmarket in June 2010. The minimalist influences of Tokyo combined with architectural structure and form can be seen in her work.
‘Compared to when I was practising architecture, design and making clothes feels more natural to me. Being the recipient of the Styleaid ‘Betts Creative Designer Award’ obviously was a huge catalyst. Being judged by industry experts made me feel like I was finally on the right track.’
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‘Unlike other disciplines there is no right way or wrong way to become a fashion designer. You can go to fashion school or you can be self-taught. You can start a label straight after graduating or you can go work under someone for a few years. I think you have to find which way works best for you and stick to it. It is very competitive and you have to really believe in yourself.’
Sarah remains surprised by the amount of interest she has been receiving, ‘I am overwhelmed by how supportive everyone has been. Six months ago I would never have imagined that I would be asked for interviews, I never thought people would care about me or my work.’
In terms of the future she says ‘I love what I do and I want to continue what I do. The passion that I have towards my work keeps me motivated. There is a long way for me to go in terms of what I want to achieve.’
Pondering Sarah’s comments I was reminded of six tips for changing career directions …
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Identify your passion
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Investigate whether you need qualifications or not and if so which approach suits you
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Seek independent, qualified feedback on your new direction
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Back yourself
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Be ready if your new direction to take off
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Remain humble
Thanks to Sarah my association with Monster Alphabets is now vastly removed from the earlier image of Cookie Monster chowing down on a bowl of alphabet soup.
Maybe you have some other career move tips to share?
For more information about Sarah’s work and to find out how the name Monster Alphabets really came about go to www.monsteralphabets.blogspot.com
Images on this post:
image: Shirin Carter
model: steph wood
hair/ makeup: Phoebe Limanta
creative director: craig williams
