the dreamers

It all started…

seven magical years ago or so. Honestly, I can’t even really remember interviewing Katie, I just remember saying "I feel like I have known you forever. This is going to be so much fun and we are going to make this concept epic!” I do remember it was for finishing a concept book that I wanted to style every look of the season for. Unheard of… but doable! I do remember it was for one season; that one season led to years working together. I remember styling with her on set; everything always organized. Samples organized by color, sleeve length, bra type and undie type. I was in heaven! Working with so many personalities in the fashion world, it’s always a gamble how so many different moods, humans and egos will all work together. I have been fortunate that with all of my teams, it was sprinkles or in most cases, handfuls of sparkle everywhere we went. Sure, we all had our moments, but we all agreed on one facet: we are in this together. Dream It, Create It, Tell It.

Katie is/was always a unicorn in moments of heavy thunderstorms. Whether she would show up with a Diet Coke (which she never approved of for health reasons), or a cookie when sugar was plummeting and “everything is hideous!” Katie was that person on the team. Plus, she appreciated my deadpan humor… Dry and Witty, it may have been the one characteristic that made this dream team work. I have watched her grow from this young designer into this trailblazer who has re-imagined her career and what facet she wants to focus on. She dreams. She creates. She pushes the world forward. Very much a collective in the KD Creative Team.

When I started my website, which felt like Everest, yet taller, I knew I needed this to feel like “me!” But let’s be honest, these seven months have been exhausting. I haven’t seen my teams, (dreamers) in MONTHS! I haven’t felt creative. I have felt at a loss with what’s happening in the world. I communicate daily with many of these dreamers. We feel it together, which brings comfort, but it also feels unbearably heavy and to be the one who has always led and not have a solve, is depleting.

When Katie called and said, “I looked at your website. Looks great. Need any help on fine tuning?”

“Oh you mean, the eye doctor website? The awful font? It’s not me. I hate it!” Not one to shy away from the real feelings of things.

“I’ve got this!” was all she had to say.

Now, when you have worked with someone and built a close friendship as one does, I knew I was in a friends care. I knew she had been working on her digital spin and how to create websites and graphics. When we were at VS, she was my go-to for “the book!” She took these learnings on with her spare time and made magic for the world to see.

Her vision and work for this website was literally a fairy Godmother waving her wand and turning a “hideous” setting into a Cinderella of a personal brand narrative. And the turnaround, literally up against a deadline of midnight or its pumpkin city. I smiled larger than I have since March looking at a project. It was captured beautifully, truthfully and confidentially. It made me think of the best parts of my career and aspect of what it is I love most about any job. The People, The Dreamers… the ones that can and will change the world. Leading is never easy but when you have the visionaries wanting to walk the same path, it creates unity. In this time of the world, we need to celebrate each persons brilliance and let that shine. I have never been one to ask for help, but I am finding that it makes life much easier when you have helping hands willing and wanting to wave that wand. Not one person can make the magic; the dreamers I have worked with make this the best part of my career. And not one dreamer is the same. Let’s celebrate that!

Katie, THANK YOU for making this come to life. You are a visionary and a bright light for this world. Anyone that works with you will see your humanness, your kindness and your beautiful creative spirit.

Katie and team at the Costume Institute's spring 2018 exhibition—at The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters

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