LamanBlu and Studio 9720!

Thanks to Kelsey and Merida for a fun interview!  Just love what these girls are doing to highlight Denver Fashion.  The Denver fashion scene is a fast growing and exciting place to be.  The people are what make it so special, and Kelsey and Merida are a part of that.

Check out their blog and their interview with LamanBlu!

Studio 9720 Blog

Feeling Blu?

Blu Thoughts:  bluebirds, robins eggs, spring.  The impossibly blue Colorado sky.  The crystal clear blu of the Caribbean sea, the deepest blu of the Cayman Trench.  I love blue!  (So does Pantone)

Who is LamanBlu?

LamanBlu is a feeling.  LamanBlu is a twirly tomboy.   LamanBlu is a little girl, who is a princess, because all little girls are princesses.  LamanBlu is a little boy who is a prince, because all little boys are princes.  LamanBlu values having fun.  LamanBlu kids look beautiful when they are climbing trees.  LamanBlu is a fairy tale.  LamanBlu gives back to improve kids lives.  LamanBlu loves the ocean, and marvels at the majesty under its surface.  LamanBlu loves the mountains and the adventures that can be had there.  LamanBlu values friends, and fun, and family, more than it values clothing.

So You Think You Want to be a Fashion Designer - What's Your Vision?

It's one of the first subjects we cover in my Business of Fashion class at Emily Griffith Technical College.  C'mon - even Ralph Lauren didn't start off making men's, women's and kid's clothing, linens, jewelry, sunglasses, dishes, shoes.........he started off making men's ties - ONLY!

Most people start out thinking about a product they want to make - great - but if you want to build a brand around it, you need to dig deeper.

A great place to start is to look inside yourself.  What's important to you?

1. What do you enjoy doing most?
2. What do you need to do on a regular basis to feel fullfilled in your work?
3. What are your most important values?
4. What are your strengths?
5. What are your weaknesses?

OK - you're off to a good start.  Now start thinking a little more externally.....

1. Create a vision statement for your business that incorporates your personal vision
2. Now create a mission statement.  (Wal-Mart's Mission Statement is: "To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same things as rich people.")  Your mission statement can be long or short to start - but it should encompass the overriding philosophy under which your company/brand will make decisions.

Obviously, there is a lot more detail that goes into creating the vision for your brand and communicating that to your customer so that they understand and can identify with your great product!

Here's how it might look once you have it all fleshed out:

Life is NOT an emergency!

Sometimes it feels like it is - too much to do, a list so long I can't even read through it all.  Trying to keep up with the busy things that scream, demanding attention.  Fire fighting.  The urgent over the important.  It keeps you in the weeds instead of above the clouds.

I've been guilty of acting like life is an emergency lately - not enough time, too much to do.  I teach the Business of Fashion at Emily Griffith Technical College (among my - how many other jobs?).  I was relating some of my production issues with one of my factories in China to my students recently.  Some of them were wondering why I was having to deal with those problems since it was clearly an error made by the factory.  I answered, "because it is my company so ultimately my responsibility".  It's true.  It is my responsibility, and I do have too much for any one person to do.  So how do I act, and not react?  How do I stay above the clouds and not down in the weeds?

I tell my students, "It's not about what happens to you, it's not about what you are dealt, it's about how you respond to it."  So how do I respond to this urgent list of too much?

It's a choice.  "Life is dessert - too brief to hurry" says Ann Voskamp.

I'll fail again soon, maybe even later today.  But this morning, I choose to relish the dessert.  I choose to stay above the clouds.  I choose my attention to be focused on the important, rather than just the urgent.

Have a blessed day.