NYC based designer Autumn Hawk (the woman behind the “red zipper” dress) has set out to achieve a high fashion and wearable look in her collection. Each dress is made with her signature red zipper and five percent of all sales go towards HIV/AIDS research and charities. I recently sat down with Autumn for a Q&A session; here’s a quick excerpt of the interview.

LW: Take us to when you first started Autumn Hawk. How did you come up with the idea? How did you go about the process of making your first garment from design to completion?

AH: I used to work in the entertainment industry, but when the recession my business got hit hard. Years later of bouncing around and not having a college degree my options were scarce. I knew that there was one thing that I could do well and that was design clothes. My passion for making clothes was taught to me by aunt when I was a kid. My parents bought me my first sewing machine at the age of 13 and I was hooked! When I first began my clothing line I was making all the samples and filling all of the orders thereafter as I grew into a company I began to hire a staff to produce garments and keep up with the large boutique orders.

LW: Do you have prior fashion design training? Is having your own clothing line something you always wanted to do?

AH: I have taken sewing/ design classes and I refreshed with courses at FIT but I don’t have a degree. I am a true testament that if you see it, you can be it!

Read the interview in its entirety on lorensworld.com!

Love,

Loren