Please visit my new website! BreeLena.com
Ever since I was young I have loved dressing up. As I grew up...I loved it even more. When I was in high school I was so extremely excited for the formal dances except that I hated every dress I found in stores. That is when my creativity chimed in and I told my mom we'd make me a dress! Both of us do sew, so we weren't completely in over our heads. The trick was, what I wanted did not come with a pattern. That is when I discovered that my brain luckily made sense of constructing a garment and we completed my first aBree Original gown when I was 16.
Fast forward (many formal dresses later) to 2008. I just graduated high school and knew I wanted to go to fashion design school in NYC. It was my dream. So my mom took me out to New York City (always been an East Coast girl) to check out FIT and Parsons. I fell in love with The Fashion Institute of Technology so much that they were the only school I applied for. The application process was strenuous and difficult, not to mention the fashion design program has less than a 10% acceptance rate, so when my acceptance came in the mail I was thrilled. That summer I developed my first business plan to make money for FIT - make and sell headbands (gossip girl era = everyone loved headbands.)
School was really an amazing experience. I learned so many skills such as; draping, patterning, sketching, photoshop, illustrator, etc. I would never trade the sleepless nights and 10 hour class days for anything! I finished my time at FIT with a study abroad to Milan and Paris.
It was always my intention to get an AAS degree in fashion design from FIT and then a BS in business management from BYU. I am currently working on my business degree.
I am inspired by anything sparkly and gold. Beautiful evening wear is my weakness. The bridal industry is my favorite and will be the industry I go into after I graduate from BYU. I have participated in fashion shows and have been featured in multiple settings for my designs. My favorite creations up to date are the two wedding dresses I have designed and created. One for my best friend (Fall 2011), the other for me (Spring 2013).