It's about time I jumped on here and told my story, I have been debating this for a long time. To be honest I wasn't really sure where to start with writing this but it is about time as I know I have a great story to tell and It is about time I told it ... so here goes I am going to take you way back to when I first started in this industry.

I am just a normal girl that fell in love with Fashion when I was young, I studied extremely hard at school to achieve A grades in Art & Design & Textiles and then went on to study Fashion at college before moving on to study Fashion Knitwear design at Nottingham Trent University.

I was lucky to land myself at high end designer alexandermcqueen for 10 months placement followed by a few smaller internships. After graduating with a 2:1, I struggled to find a paid design job, so I spent the next 18 months working UNPAID for a number of fashion houses including some suppliers, plus AllSaints & @JulienMacdonald where I hand crafted two floor length gowns that were featured on Kourtney Kardashian & Eva Longoria Parker. This was one of my proudest moments and the hardest I have ever experienced. Not only was I working for Free but I used to travel 1.5hours to London each way and leave at 10pm. How I done that I don't know. See images below. I made those ☺️ Interning put me in a lot of debt, I didn't have parents that could pay for my work and travel, so I used to work 4 evenings a week in a bar late at night to pay for my commute. HELL!!

 I then landed my first serious job in the industry at Superdry based in Cheltenham [2017] and up and relocated myself, where I was taken on as the Assistant Swimwear & Knitwear designer. I generally only got this job due to the years of experience I slaved away at, only to come in right at the bottom again. Not going to lie, my salary only covered my living and transport, I couldn't afford to eat or have a life. I was 25 years old by this point and feeling like I was could be doing so much more with my skills.

This is where I fell in love with swimwear. It wasn't long before I noticed a huge gap in the market for a boutique brand in the UK that represents high quality, luxury and individuality at a competitive price.

I had my mindset on creating this luxury brand from scratch and teaching myself everything business along the way. This is where Topaz really began, and I really did teach myself everything. I studied everything there was to know about swimwear construction, fabrics, trims, I even jumped on the Eurostar last minute one day and went to Interfilière Paris to meet suppliers and fabric mills....

The journey continues......

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