By Brenda Clemons
Rising star and winner of the Texas Next Top Designer competition, Abi Ferrin, may be on her way to the top, but she’s hardly in it for the attention. After a fluke fib at a media event garnered her attention as a designer, she left her home in Los Angeles and moved to Texas to leave behind all the celebrity pressure and find more creative freedom. La Mode Dallas sat down with Ferrin to talk about freedom, success and the media’s unrealistic view of women.
BC: What were you thinking when you blurted out ‘I’m a designer’ at that media event in LA? Was it a planned move or did you just do it on the spot?
AF: No, it totally just happened on the spot. I have been sewing since I was six years old. I’ve always had a passion for it but the thought of actually doing it for a living hadn’t occurred to me ‘till that moment.
BC: At that moment, did you even stop to think that it would lead to the amount of success that you have had?
AF: No, I didn’t. I didn’t really think about the success part but it was really easy for me because I had been searching for my place in life. I had been on this quest and it was kind of a cloud parting moment because it was really clear to me that that was what I was supposed to do.
BC: Almost like destiny?
AF: Yeah! Total destiny.
BC: I love the flow of your designs. What inspires you?
AF: I’m inspired by the women that come into my life. If you look on the [web] site you will know that all of [my designs] have different names. They are all named after different women.
BC: How do you come up with the names?
AF: They are all the women that come into my studio. My friends, just different women in my life that I dress and they inspire my next designs and collections. They all give a lot of input. I think it really helps me to get a lot of test research done too, because they are my customers as well.
BC: Why did you pick Texas over some other state?
AF: My cousin lives here and I came to visit her. I was at a changing point where I really needed to make some change to grow to the next level. So I just came here for a week to get advice and I fell in love with Dallas. I had no intention of moving when I came here but it became very clear that it was what I needed to do…to change things up. I just went back to LA and I told everyone that I was moving to Dallas. No one could really believe it.
BC: Tell me about your motto, ‘fashion with freedom and purpose.’
AF: Well, it’s kind of a two fold motto. We really believe in empowering women and I dress women of all ages, shapes and sizes and cultural backgrounds. I can officially say that now I have helped those women because they all came in here and they all feel great about themselves…no matter what phase of life they’re in.
And then secondly, we work with the women here in Dallas and we work with the women in Nepal and Cambodia that are rescued out of the sex trades. That is where the second part of the freedom and the purpose comes in, is that we are really helping the community to expand through the profit of the company.
BC: Have you ever met any of the women you have helped?
AF: I haven’t met the women. I’ve met the lady in Cambodia who organizes and helps those women. She flew to Dallas and came to my show when she was first proposing that we work together. I get letters and pictures of both the Napoli group and the Cambodia group of women working on the clothes and working on their various projects. So, it has been very rewarding and I am looking forward to next year when I am going to make a trip over and visit both of those organizations.”
BC: How do you feel about sweatshops and the sad way in which women and children are exploited by the fashion industry? What would you like to see changed?
AF: I would like to see it all change. That is really why I am trying to lead by example and show that you can still have an amazing project. Instead of exploiting, you can help people. We have people on the ground who check to make sure there is no exploitation and that there are fair wages. I think that there is so much attention being paid to the effects of things, that women are more likely to want to buy a product that they know is not being made at the expense of somebody else. I think more and more manufacturers will look around and see what companies are working and that they are going to have to change their ways. Even if it means smaller profit margins per garment, they are going to have to be more responsible.
BC: How can our readers make a donation to one of the organizations you support?
AF: There are multiple ways. We can put you in direct contact or, by the time this interview is printed, we should have a link on our site. We are in the process right now of creating our own nonprofit sector so we can continue. But basically, we are sending money to those organizations every month so if somebody wants to give money to them, I just pass it on directly to them.
BC: Do you think that the media puts too much pressure on women to be thin?
AF: Yes! Unrealistic pressure. Even to the point that the women on the cover of magazines that we all idolize—even those women are airbrushed. I think it is really hard for some women… I think recently the media has become more aware of this and, you know, women like America Ferrera and Jennifer Hudson are going to change that landscape by being themselves and being successful. But, I think that there is a lot of unrealistic pressure created by the media for women to be more than perfect.
BC: What was it like showing in New York?
AF: My show was at the Metropolitan Fashion Pavilion. But it was officially fashion week and it was unbelievable. I would say it was a magical day. The day before, hurricane winds and rain had come through and they were saying it was going to be the same the next day. But we woke up and it was perfect, clear blue skies and perfect weather. The whole day was magical; I had over 200 people come from Dallas to support me and they brought great energy. I think that all the people in New York were blown away by my following and the response from the crowd.
BC: What is your definition of freedom?
AF: Getting to fulfill your destiny without any restrictions, without being told you can’t do it. Or, even stopping yourself with your own fear or thoughts of failure.
BC: Your studio is on fire and you can save only one of your designs. Which do you pick?
AF: You know, I would have to grab my sister’s wedding dress.
BC: What advice would you give to other struggling designers?
AF: My biggest advice is to keep on persisting if you know in your heart this is what youlove and want to do. Persistence is the key because I literally almost gave up. Then I won Texas Top Designer and it changed my entire career. If I had closed my doors that month before the contest came along, it would have been so sad. Because I had all of the struggles and not the rewards. It’s taken me six years to get to this point ….So, I think the key is to persist.
