For Olivia Hurst, a fourth-year Strategic Design and Administration scholar at Parsons College of Design, it’s all in regards to the particulars. Her eponymous womenswear model, identified for its elegant traces and female building, has rapidly gained a loyal following over the previous two years.
Based in 2021, the model began as a Depop and Etsy store the place Hurst would create made-to-order clothes. As her on-line retailers began to select up, Hurst launched her model– first providing solely a easy black tube prime. She then produced her first assortment herself, that includes tender tube tops, a backless boat neck tank prime with ties and a backless, long-sleeved prime.
The items are supplied in simply black and white, staying true to Hurst’s perception within the energy of a nicely constructed primary. Most clothes are fabricated from a rayon-spandex mix, sourced in New York Metropolis as usually as doable. Rayon is tender and stretchy, giving the garments a relaxed, but flattering match.
The primary assortment bought out in 4 days, and Hurst knew she had executed one thing proper.
“My clothes is kind of easy and private. A boatneck or an additional lengthy sleeve could make all of the distinction,” she mentioned, explaining why her clients love her work.“I take note of element and ask, ‘how does this really feel?’ once I’m carrying it.”
As her enterprise grew, Hurst started working with a woman-owned manufacturing firm based mostly out of Manhattan’s Garment District. She works carefully together with her producer, describing their collaborative relationship with gratitude. The younger designer mentioned she is all the time excited to deliver new samples to her producer, the place they focus on the items and fine-tune the work.
“It’s good to have a producer which you can stroll in [to] and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, look what I made!’” Hurst mentioned.
One factor the Parsons scholar is studying? The significance of getting a robust connection together with her producer in a enterprise that may be stuffed with disconnect, she mentioned.
Other than the manufacturing course of, Hurst runs each facet of the model, from creating samples to directing photograph shoots to operating social media — all whereas being a full-time scholar. Self self-discipline is the important thing to all of it, Hurst defined, noting that planning out her days to ensure she dedicates time to every mission helps to maintain her targeted.
“Once you’re actually enthusiastic about one thing and also you really need it, it’s not going to really feel like a chore,” Hurst mentioned. “And as you develop as a enterprise, it turns into simpler to handle every part since you’re extra skilled.”
Social media has additionally performed an essential function within the model’s success. Hurst has amassed practically 50,000 followers on TikTok, the place her feedback are full of ladies gushing over her designs and wanting to seize one thing from her subsequent drop.
“I’m actually fortunate to reside within the period of social media as a model proprietor as a result of I get to have management over the visuals and aesthetics of the model,” Hurst mentioned. “It’s an opportunity to create a whole world for the model, to attach with the shoppers and construct that relationship.”
Though she owns and operates a clothes model, Hurst is majoring in Strategic Design and Administration somewhat than trend design. She mentioned this system offers her freedom and adaptability. Strategic Design and Administration gives the instruments and foundations to run a enterprise whereas leaving her relationship with clothes design utterly as much as herself, Hurst added. Freed from the constraints that trend design packages placed on scholar designers, the coed has been capable of construct a model that embodies her ethos of considerate design and longlasting clothes.
“What makes me essentially the most fulfilled is when my buddies and clients inform me that they put on my items all each single day. To me, that’s wonderful, and it’s why I like what I do,” Hurst mentioned with enthusiasm.
On the finish of the day, a very powerful factor for the designer is how individuals really feel within the garments and what it would imply for them, she added.
“I prefer to design garments that emphasize the particular person carrying them, somewhat than garments that take away from them or really feel like a dressing up,” Hurst mentioned.
You may see extra of Olivia Hurst’s designs on her web site and sustain together with her model on Instagram.
