The year is 2008. I am a five-year-old little girl sitting at the table, papers and markers scattered around me, where I’ve been sitting most of the day doing what I always do, designing clothes.
While my classmates were planning on becoming astronauts and police officers, I knew I needed to work in fashion. Most five-year-olds were concerned about playing and running. I was planning outfits on the ground and dressing and redressing my dolls.
I started sewing a few years later. I remember the moment my junior year of high school when I convinced my art teacher to let me turn in a dress for a sculpture project. The design fell out of me. I drew my fashion model and created the lines. When I was finished, I purchased the required materials and went to my machine, the same one bought for eight-year-old me.
I loved creating my own patterns and seeing my designs turn into something I could wear and feel. After that, I started making more and more dresses, so many of them, all now living in infamy in the back of a closet at my parents’ house.
I went to school and studied fashion and marketing. The stress of business classes was balanced out by the classes where I studied dresses and created clothes.
Now I am a 22-year-old woman, freshly graduated from college, with that same passion. I’ve spent my whole life dreaming of what I am on the precipice of now. I’m terrified. If I’ve been dreaming and planning something for years, should I be this scared? I think yes.
The visions I had were of me in a beautiful studio, surrounded by rolls of fabric and fitting models. The women who inspired that image didn’t get there without being afraid.
I know this isn’t a unique dream. Plenty of girls grew up drawing dresses and wanting this same life. But this is happening for me. I’m making this happen.
Whatever scale Karlie Elizabeth grows to, I am so proud of myself for taking this leap. I hope to be one of the greats. As I wait for launch day, I can see the vision unfolding in front of me.
I am so grateful for everyone who has helped get me here.
Love you all 💋