A wardrobe that travels with you

“Rewearability is the name of the sustainability game.”

My response was a three-piece convertible capsule. Each piece is designed to transform. A pair of pants that button off into a mini skirt. A full dress with a hem that can be let loose or cinched into a bubble effect. A button-up high-neck sweater that converts from short to long sleeve. Together, they can be mixed, layered, and re-worn across seasons, climates, and occasions — creating over 12 distinct silhouettes from just three pieces. What emerges is a capsule of garments that travel and adapt with you. 

The concept crystallized on the first day of the program: I landed in Miami in December, straight from a freezing New York City, and immediately found myself doing a scavenger hunt through the Design District. I needed to go from airport-cozy to Miami-alive in one outfit. This loose idea hardened into a design conviction when my group at J.Crew dressed our mannequin for exactly that scenario: transitioning from cold to warm, layering and de-layering as she moved. I realized I had been designing for that woman my whole career. That woman is me.

PROCESS

For this capsule, my process was hands-on, iterative, and instinctual. I worked from my own brand’s archive, constructing all final prototypes out of an ultra-soft faux stretch suede used in a previous project (the SIREN polo, which itself is a convertible top that features a zip-off hood). I started with pants: drafted the pattern by hand, and built a pant prototype out of scrap yardage. I wore this first muslin during a night out with friends to test how it moved and draped on a real body.

I created a dress next, patterning it twice — pivoting from long to short sleeve once I realized it needed to function as both a standalone sundress and a layering piece under the third capsule item, a sweater. As for the sweater, I patterned it based exactly on my sketch, with only minor adjustments from the first mockup to the final prototype.

I constructed and finished garments using techniques that I’ve learned through my on-going sewing and construction practice – seams were serged, and a single-needle chainstitch was used for topstitching details. Once assembled, I brought the pieces to Jonathan Embroidery in the New York City Garment District for buttons and buttonholes.

PHILOSOPHY & WHAT COMES NEXT


Every choice in this capsule is a rejection of something. I reject fashion seasons — an industry construct that serves capital, not people. Not everyone has the means or the space to build a new wardrobe every three months, and the culture that tells them they should is one I refuse to participate in. I also reject overproduction, as well as the idea that sustainability stops at materials. For an independent designer working alone in New York City, sustainability means sustaining myself – burnout is not a badge of honor. I work in small runs, usually formulated as capsules similar to this capstone collection. I construct samples myself and source materials locally, staying rooted in the Garment District — not for aesthetics, but because I can touch the fabric before I cut it and support the local community of artisans and garment workers.

This capsule is built around these values — it is designed by and for real bodies in motion: working, walking, dancing and traveling. I use stretch material, drawstring functionality, and generous ease because clothing should move the way people move, and it should fit people the way people are — not the other way around.

The Bridge to Basel experience taught me the power of connection — and how connection lives in the body before it lives anywhere else. My work has always been about inviting people in: into comfort, into community, into themselves. This is how I move through the world, and it shows up in every seam I finish and in each creative project I shepherd.

My vision is clear. My process is documented. I am looking forward to further opportunities to seek mentorship, access, and a broader creative community that values intention over volume. 

I believe clothing can be a form of care — for the person wearing it, for the community that made it, for the environment that absorbs the cost of every piece that gets thrown away. This capsule is a proof of concept. What comes next is scaling that proof — one small run, one real body, one conversation at a time.