Before I knew to call it an archive, I was already preserving the evidence. Fashion has followed me through childhood, Atlanta, family, pauses, and creative rebirth. Threads & Testaments is not where I pick up where I left off. It is where all those threads finally come together.
“Before I knew to call it an archive, I was already preserving the evidence.“
This is where I begin.
In truth, I needed a place to land my thoughts, creative expression, and journey as a creative.
Over the years, I have learned that as much as I love hanging out and connecting with people, I am madly in love with art and fashion. Art is my peace. Fashion is my excitement, and oftentimes, it fuels my energy.
Lately, what I’ve noticed is that my creative thoughts, my stories, and my creative adventures are now in abundance. For that, I feel blessed beyond words.
Have you ever put a book on a shelf, returned to it years later, and somehow begun at the exact place where you left off?
That’s what this creative rebirth feels like.
A resurgence of energy that was always available but paused.
Please know that, for me, a pause did not represent loss or sorrow. I believe that God gives us assignments, and even when you are forced to pause to manage those responsibilities, God can return what was paused and supply it back abundantly.
And when your assignment is family, that pause is filled with love.
Sometimes in life, we pause to regroup, recover, reframe, or even reimagine.
I have always loved fashion and visual art. Even as a kid, I remember putting outfits together, cutting pictures out of magazines, and creating the look.
After I graduated from high school, a close friend bought me a fashion book and told me about a school in Atlanta. As timing would have it, my cousin was also moving to the city for a fresh start.
The stars were aligning.
With my dad’s blessing—and his signature on my student loan—I was out.
I knew what I wanted. I just had no idea how to make it happen. But I knew school was a good place to start.
I moved to Atlanta in the 2000s at 19 years old with hopes of entering the fashion industry.
I loved Atlanta with a passion. I still do. But without direction and financial support, you can get pulled into the ills of a city. By the grace of God, I left Atlanta healthy and unharmed.
But life…
Life has a way of redirecting the plan, reestablishing our goals, and showing us what is important now.
But God.
Today, I am more established, more confident, and clearer in my vision. I have greater insight into who I am as a creative and what direction fits the woman I am today.
And through all of it, fashion has always had a way of finding its way back to me.
In a magnetic way.
Sometimes it’s a dream that somehow shows up in real life.
Sometimes it’s a lost earring that finds its way back to me after I’ve already given up looking.
I once wore a pair of my favorite earrings to a large community event and somehow lost one. I knew it was probably a lost cause, but I saved the other one—just in case.
Weeks later, the organizer called and sent me a picture.
Did you lose an earring? I think I might have it.
Score!
That’s fashion finding me.
It’s thrifting and feeling like a piece is screaming, Take me with you.
It’s creating a look in your mind, finding the exact pieces, putting them together, and killing said look.
It’s connecting with other fashionable people, complimenting them, and recognizing the art and thoughtfulness behind the threads.
It’s the magazines that arrive unexpectedly but always when needed.
It’s discovering the fashion series you hoped was on, only to realize it’s been airing for weeks.
Binge-watch.
Somehow, fashion still finds me.
But these days, I’m not picking up where I left off.
I’m allowing my natural gifts, experiences, curiosity, and creativity to lead the way and oversee the vision of Threads & Testaments.
Maybe all those years weren’t a detour.
Maybe they were part of the archive before I even knew to call it one.
May this archive bring you understanding, reverence, and inspiration for the rest of your days—and mine.
Amen.
