It is well-known that the fashion industry is a forever changing entity with new styles and concepts introduced each season. Up until now the industry has been more of a One Size Fits One when it came to clothes and the clientele who purchased them. Over the past few years plus size fashion forerunners such as Yuliya Raquel of Igigi, Monif C, even mainstream designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Isabel Toledo has set the stage for a major shift in design concepts as well as clientele. However it is the newcomers in this particular sector of fashion that is taking the industry by storm. One of which you are about to meet today.
Me with Hannah Olson of Hannah Caroline Couture at the KCFW Designer Trunk Show
This past September, I had the esteemed honor of meeting one of my favorite designers, Hannah Olson of Hannah Caroline Couture as she presented looks from her previous collections at the Designer Trunk Show during Kansas City Fashion Week. Needless to say I was completely ecstatic over the opportunity to take a closer look at her amazing fashion creations as well as getting to know the genius mind behind them.
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Hannah Olson has always possessed and entrepreneurial spirit. " When I was little, I had a small business called Funky Flopz, making and selling fabric flip-flops with my mom. We did that for a few years until I started middle school. I did little things here and there, bu HCC started in high school." During her sophomore year, Olson's first company, FAB[squared] began by coincidence. " On the last day of a sewing class that I hated, I took scraps and some free time, and made a hair accessory. Later that week, a classmate purchased it, and I began selling accessories like that as well as bags and things to my friends and classmates."
Like many of us (myself included), Olson grew tired of the lack of stylish apparel for plus sized people, so she began creating her own. This eventually lead to more clients, and what began as an accessories business soon blossomed into a full apparel line. Shortly after presenting the first collection of her Hannah Caroline Couture line during her senior year of high school, Olson then went on to apply for the big dance. Omaha Fashion Week 2013 would be the first of many presentations of this fashion event, along with her debut at Kansas City Fashion Week Spring 2015 Showcase.
What I really love about Olson's design aesthetic is how much her influences remind me of my own. "I draw a lot of inspiration from music and architecture, among other things. I've been a musician since 4th grade and I play five instruments, so music is something I really connect with." Olson also sites the architecture of building in Chicago where she frequently visits, as well as things she see people wear in daily life among her peers rather than historical fashion figures.
Where suave sophistication and casual comfort meet. Hannah Caroline Couture has managed to bring these two concepts together in sheer perfect harmony.
A cut above the rest. The Hannah Caroline Couture line caters to all shapes and sizes with the use of silhouettes and bold fabrics that accentuates the confidence of today's modern woman.
Always the go getter with her mind on business, Olson's outlook for the future of Hannah Caroline Couture is definitely a bright one. "I am working on being in some more local boutiques in addition to the two amazing ones I am in now (The Ugly Sister Boutique and Atomic Bombshells Pinup Boutique). Olson also stated that she has a few different deals in the works, but cannot comment on said deals at this time.
As for her advice for those daring to venture into the world of fashion, Olson has this to say, "I would say not to wait until you have everything figured out. From where I started to where I am now two years later is nowhere near something I could have ever predicted or prepared for. Learn everything you can, be shameless in telling the world what you do, and try to use your choice of passion to help as many people as you can along the way."
M. Renee's Closet © 2014