Little Black Dress 2014

I entered the Little Black Dress Designer competition on Saturday. Fifty beautiful dresses walked down this runway, and only sixteen were chosen to move on to round two. Mine wasn't one, which was a relief in a way. Losing is less work, and I have a collection to finish!

This is the first time I've competed against students from other schools. It is a tough crowd in which to stand out. Even among my classmates in collections class this year, I've been feeling less talented, less skilled, and less professional than I have in previous years. The closer I move to the top, the more the field narrows. Of the hundreds of students that take the beginner design classes, only a handful go all the way to the end and design a complete collection. When I started, my professors were quite impressed with how neat my work was and how tasteful my designs were. It seemed that no matter what I did, I would always get an A, and I started taking that for granted. I had somewhat of a prideful attitude when I compared myself to 90% of the other students. Now only that top 10% are left at my level, and I'm not the best. That's been a good thing for me to realize. I'm not the most self-disciplined or industrious. I'm certainly not the most creative or innovative. I'm not even the most technical or clean. I'm really kind of average.

I have room for improvement. I like the way that sounds.

I would, however, like to know where the judges thought I fell short. There were some shoddy construction details for sure. Was it that? Was the fit not quite right, or that the darts were too pointy? It was a rather simple design and didn't put on the show that some other dresses did. (But this is the Little Black Dress, for crying out loud. You know, classic. Chanel. Audrey Hepburn. I don't want to sound like a sore loser, but I thought my dress channeled those iconic ladies more than most of the other entries.)

I learned a big lesson that I failed to heed at Career Day. Work and work up until the last second, if that's what it takes to finish, and don't give up until you either submit your work or get turned down. I showed up two minutes after the drop-off window was supposed to close, and there were still several students in line, so I just stepped in behind them. I wasn't turned away. I'm so glad I put in the effort to get there, rather than sitting at home feeling sorry for myself and assuming I had no hope.