NYSFE Magazine Volume 1 | Page 28

Kerrieen J. Bryan NYSFE 2017 Designer Spotlight 01 What inspired you to pursue a career as a designer? My inspiration came from my innate creative ability and my natural love for anything fashionable. Having already been a part of the fashion retail industry; the move to focus solely on fashion designing was bold, yet compelling and self satisfying. 02 Do you have a designer that you admire? Why? Yes I do. His name is Yousef Aljasmi. I admire his work because for one, he does mainly couture pieces and his intricate style and heavy detailing with the most exquisite embellishments appeals to my own sense of fashion. I am a wife and a mother of one. I developed my interest in designing and garment construction after co-owning a boutique with my husband in my home country; Jamaica. Honestly, I have always loved fashion but the drive to start my own custom made line came from the challenges I faced to acquire items for resale. Thinking like an entrepreneur I saw where I could capitalize on custom making my own pieces, as not only would I avoid the hassle associated with buying and importing merchandise, I would also be able to custom create styles of my own preference; which, was the more exciting part and what drove me to consistently work hard at establishing myself as a fashion designer. consistently designing and creating my own pieces with a growing clientele that’s spread out over the USA, Canada and the Caribbean and honestly, it can only get better. Being a self-taught designer was another challenge within itself. One that I strongly dealt with when I first embarked on this Journey, but as my passion deepened so did my success at overcoming all difficulties. In that, my belief and confidence in myself that I could successfully achieve my goals of becoming an International Fashion Designer was greatly elevated. It’s just as they say, “If you can believe it, you can achieve it”. It has been 4 years since I have been My vision for Haus of Kerrieen J Bryan is to develop a brand that has a unique signature style, with “Haute Couture” at the core of it all. Also to have my pieces on all major runways, fashion shows, high-end boutiques, red carpet events, and on the backs of the most prestigious. In addition to this, I would love the opportunity to use such a platform to encourage and empower others to believe in a dream, work hard for that dream, and not to let anyone tell you you can’t achieve that dream. 28   03 What can you tell us about presenting your collection at NYSFE? I have never presented at NYSFE before but I am extremely honored to have been given this opportunity and I highly look forward to being a part of the show. 04 What do you think of your work? I believe my work is exceptional, and as time goes by it will get more and more aligned with the signature style that I envision for my brand. Which is “Haute Couture Madness”. 05 What is your greatest accomplishment? My greatest accomplishment is having my brand up and running, which, with time and consistent hard work will continue to satisfy the people, fashionably. 06 Describe your creative process? My creative process is pretty simple. I first create the style that I want in my head, then I transfer that to the fabric and from then on I continue to work until I achieve the finished look that I had envisioned. 07 How do you stay organized when you’re provided with multiple design ideas? This is a challenge to be honest, because I am always creating and developing new ideas as I work and sometimes I get stuck on which style pattern is better. So what I do is to sketch the alternative designs and save them for another time, in that I wouldn’t lose the new ideas I came up with and I would be able to continue with the original design I started out with. 08 What is your social media and website information? Instagram: @hausofkjb Website: hausofkjb.bigcartel.com N E W Y O R K S U M M E R FA S H I O N E X P L O S I O N M A G A Z I N E   J U N E 2 0 1 7