18 Oct Resident Studio Designer Teaches Level 3 Students

Elisa, creative director and founder of Dreaming Eli, and FC Designer Workspace studio resident, spent time with the Level 3 students to give advice and support on personal development and starting a fashion business.

She gave a PowerPoint presentation that showed the current trends and her own unique journey. Elisa said: ”On the 13th October, for one-hour at the FC Designer Workspace, I had the pleasure of sharing my journey in the fashion industry with the 10 young students from the Design and Business course here at the Workspace.

“It has been amazing seeing such a level of engagement and excitement! I talked them through my path as a student first, and as founder and creative director of Dreaming Eli after. I tried to explain what an intense, hard and amazing life this is and the passion, determination and hard-work required to face the challenges of such a competitive industry.

“I told them about the importance of being eager and proactive to find opportunities, and to be true to themselves and to what they believe in. I told them about the power of creating something that doesn’t exist and making fashion a social statement that can actually make the difference. They had so many questions on techniques, decision making and creativity – it was truly inspiring and I hope to have given them a bit of inspiration too!

“The reality of an emerging fashion brand, with the financial and mental challenges it involves, is very different from the glamorised vision that is usually shared with the public. Therefore I believe it’s so important to clearly show and explain how harsh and brutal this industry is in real life. I was happy to see how my unfiltered story hasn’t discouraged them but actually motivated them!! There’s nothing more beautiful than seeing so much passion and determination even in the youngest!”

A big thank-you to Elisa for sharing her story and advice with the students. It is fantastic that industry information and experiences can be shared across the Workspace, and the FEL team encourage and support residents and visiting professionals to speak and offer advice to the students.