Almost every college student has said “screw this, I’m dropping out!” whether it was because of a frustrating exam or just to blow off some steam. I found myself saying it throughout my undergraduate degree. While those moments were to exaggerate my frustration, I did find myself thinking about not being in the fashion industry after college.
It started during the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020. Seeing all the looting and rioting left me in an awkward space questioning my career. “How is Fashion going to help people?”, “There are real things going on and I’m going to school for fashion”. I diminished my education because I did not have the answers. Also, being that I had just exited my sophomore year of college, I felt like I was not living what I wanted to do. I had the same schedule; go to fashion classes, do extra curriculums then go home and repeat. I felt lost because I uphold the value that if I start something, I have to finish it. I was going into my Junior year of college in the upcoming months so, I decided to look for other majors or graduate school options and nothing stuck or sounded right to me. Masters in Political Science? No. Business? Still Considering. Or Communication? Ehh, no.
That summer I had my first college internship. To advocate for the violence against African-Americans, I and my boss created BLM shirts with a fist screen printed on the front. Every dollar made went to BLM protesters to help them get out of jail. While this was a good deed, I didn’t want it to be my only identity. This means, I am only out in public when something big happens but what about fashion problems like Sustainability and Fast Fashion? Why are you not talking about things that include your degree? I told myself I'll get my degree in Apparel Merchandising and see where I’ll go from there but every night I still searched for something that would make me feel like I belong there.
My senior year of college rolled around and I learned that you can become a fashion lawyer. Is that exciting, representing people or Fashion Psychology, learning why people dress the way they do and how it affects them. Then, you look at the numbers Law School, 3 years, and expensive tuition. Fashion Psychology, 3-7 (looked at Masters in Ph.D. programs), can be fully funded but up to 7 years? Now, if you really want something the numbers should not matter, but you can’t deny them. So, why was I still questioning my idea? Because I did not know what I wanted to do.
In April 2022 of my senior year, I was honored to be on the Behind The Scenes committee for The Fashion Show at Iowa State University. This year we collaborated with Urban Outfitters and I can tell you this was by far my favorite college experience. I met so many people, introduced new Apparel Majors to our programs, and put on a damn good show. I felt like this is where I belonged. Not to turn a good story sad but even good things come to an end. It took a couple of months for me to get off my high for the production of the show but every day I missed it. So now what? Go back to ISU for 7 years major in something and work with The Fashion Show? No, my life shouldn’t revolve around it.
What I did learn is that I needed to take a year off from school to find and taste new things and if it brings me back to school then that's okay. Work for a company that hosts Fashion shows or is in Fashion but find a bigger purpose being it (that's what I’ll be doing on my year off).
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