What challenges did Corrine have in terms of breaking into the fashion industry before getting involved in Fashion Fiesta CIC?
Before showing her designs at Fashion Fiesta CIC Corrine was having trouble getting herself known on social media. She had a lot of creative energy and ideas but was struggling to get any recognition.
It was while working as a weaver at a mill that she had the inspiration to take the waste products and turn them into something else. She was met with huge amounts of negativity but did not allow herself to be put off.
How did Corrine get into Fashion?
Corrine started taking the fabric home and working on her own designs. However, when she approached the managers at the mill with her ideas on how to recycle the materials they did not want to know. They thought it to be a complete waste of time.
Corrine was always creative and taught herself to sew. She loved finding the pieces of fabric and seeing what she could make out of them. Whilst working for mills she was shocked at the amount of materials which were being thrown away and discarded. Most of it would line the factory floor. Seeing an opportunity, Corrine started packing the material into plastic bags and brining it home with her to see what she could create.
She decided to target the teen market, as she felt teenagers and young adults tend to be the most experimental and interested in trying new things. She also recognised that the younger adults tend to be the trend setters.
With the renaissance of social media, Corrine had a place to showcase her work. However, building a following and getting her known was proving difficult. Many of the viewers loved her designs but did not have sufficient funds to purchase them.
She tried approaching the retailers only to discover they only deal with mass production coming through the mills. None of her designs could be reproduced as each of them are a unique combination of the fabrics Corrine had to hand.
How did Fashion Fiesta help Corrine?
Fashion Fiesta gave Corrine the opportunity to show what she could do. She had a platform to bring her designs and present her creative vision to magazines and sponsors with the ability to help take her fashion career further.
A friend suggested that she should take part in Fashion Fiesta, she laughs today at how little she knew of fashion events and what they entailed. Corrine turned up to the Fashion Show in 2017 with her designs in black bags and lacking any confidence in her aspirations and unsure if it would amount to anything or how the models would respond. As it happened the models loved the uniqueness of her designs and enjoyed showing them off. They felt they were wearing something that was truly “designer”.
Corrine was the winner that year and was over the moon to have won. Since then her business has continued to go from strength to strength and her online presence has soared.
Would she recommend Fashion Fiesta for future designers?
Absolutely, yes! Fashion Fiesta CIC is all about supporting creatives and giving people the opportunity to have their designs seen and exhibited in a fashion show. In Corrine’s words, if she hadn’t taken the chance and entered her designs, she never would have won and she would not have been as successful. Even if she had not been a winner, the connections she made that night would have stood her in good stead. After all, it is not about the chances you expect it’s the ones which come and surprise you when you least expect it!
Corrine is the perfect example of someone who started by manufacturing the fabrics and now has created her own designer brand “COOLI”, truly sustainable fashion.
