Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Being a fashion designer means being an artist. I also look at myself as an entrepreneur.

  • I have all these ideas in my head and it's my job to make them happen and to put these clothes on bodies.

  • My name is Melissa Fleis. I'm a fashion designer based in Los Angeles.

  • I started working in the fashion industry in my late teens, twenties.

  • However, I was more in the beauty and publishing side of things.

  • It took me until I was 27 to decide to go back for my master's degree.

  • Originally, I was pre-law and when I finally decided to go back to fashion school is when things started clicking in my life.

  • I wish there would've been more classes when I was in high school. It wasn't part of the curriculum.

  • Me wanting to own my own business, I wanted to learn everything about this industry and how to sew a garment from beginning to end, how to pattern make it.

  • My experience obtaining any sort of internship or job, it really takes you going after it.

  • And I just kept cold calling stores that I knew I wanted to work in.

  • For my final internship when I was in Italy, it was through the store I worked at.

  • She was one of the designers we carried.

  • I had sent a resume out. I had sent my portfolio and I also got a referral from my boss.

  • I definitely believe that having education and that work experience is really crucial.

  • I think that being on "Project Runway" definitely taught me to trust my instincts.

  • It taught me to realize that not everyone is going to love you 100% of the time.

  • There are going to be people who love your work.

  • There are going to be people who dislike your work and you have to be okay with that.

  • The design process happens differently every time.

  • I think getting the inspiration varies so much. My next step is to take this inspiration, create a mood board, and then sketch from that.

  • I also look at what's been selling in previous collections in ways that I can edit that, or create new garments from that because, in the end, you know, I am trying to make a business out of this.

  • I think it's really important tonumber one is getting really talented at something and finding a niche for people to talk about.

  • You need to be well-spoken. You need to be able to do mathuse a lot of math.

  • Learn how to sew, learn how to pattern make.

  • You know, work for somebody. It is about learning and working hard and getting internships and gaining experience because if you don't have that, who's gonna hire you?

  • How are you gonna learn and how are you gonna grow within this industry?

  • But being any sort of skilled tradesman in this industry, I think it's amazing.

  • And I think there needs to be more of it.

Being a fashion designer means being an artist. I also look at myself as an entrepreneur.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it