allison o’grady, founder of aspiring couture, agreed to do an interview for the bumblesea blog. she dishes on what it’s been like to build an online fashion boutique which carries beautiful collections by emerging fashion designers, and promote the company while working 3 other jobs!
as you might already know from one of my previous blog posts, I’m in love with the wedding collection by the designer blushless. I can’t believe I had never heard of their work until aspiring couture came along. to be honest, I find most wedding dresses to be absolutely hideous. but blushless puts a modern spin on traditionally minimal dresses – resulting in the only wedding line I’ve ever found appealing.
bumblesea interviews allison o'grady of aspiring couture + blushless wedding dress collection
you’ve obviously got killer taste, and you’re creative to pull off a huge project like aspiring couture. what inspired you to represent indie designers and open a boutique instead of designing products yourself?
I do have a strong interest in designing items and do plan to create some in the future. I guess it came down to the fact that I didn’t have the time to sit down and start sewing a collection because I realized that no one was going to know about it! I thought that other designers might just feel the same way. I decided to just look around to see if there were designers worth showcasing. I was pleasantly surprised that their were tons! It seemed like a much better purpose at the moment to try my hand in starting a boutique. It has been a learning experience- now I know more about marketing products. If the boutique does well, I can eventually make some pieces and add my own items too.
what are some of the goals you’d like to achieve with aspiring couture? (long &/or short term)
Well, that is quite a loaded question! I am a dreamer, I always have been, and it is no different with Aspiring Couture. I want to hold lots of fashion shows, have a fashion magazine, participate in charitable events and more, to get these designers’ names out there. I want Aspiring Couture to be a very well known website and I would love to open a few physical stores around the country. I’m working on these things, but they are long term goals.
Short term, I would like to be able to support these designers by selling their products quickly! I would like to get into a groove on my blog where I am constantly updating and have an ever-growing reader base of people who are inspired by my writing and my finds! My current goal is to spread the word of Aspiring Couture.
the variety of emerging talented artists can be overwhelming, how do you go about narrowing your choices down? do you just go with instinct or is there a specific criteria you have for collections you carry, questions you ask yourself before deciding to work with a company?
There may be more specific criteria when Aspiring Couture becomes more well-known or starts offering more products, but right now it is based on what I love. I pick designers I would wear myself, each product is a representation of me. I do know that not everyone likes what I like, so I will eventually broaden the range of styles. So far I have gotten some great feedback on the boutique- I am glad to know people respond well to my choices!
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