Do you remember?
What is the most memorable place that you have ever been a place that changed your life, your direction? What was that direction and where did you end up afterward? I was walking through the garment district today, and I suddenly remembered when I first came to New York, the most pivotal moment in my life. I was requested by Nian Fish at KCD to come to New York to audition for the Versus Spring fashion show by Gianni Versace. I walked into the Calvin Klein building on 39th street and waited in line with the most beautiful model I had ever seen her name was Alek, darlings, it was Alek Wek before she was a supermodel. I was so excited, well I spent four years in the industry as a model it was a very hard and amazing time, I think it was most amazing because I spent my entire childhood being told I was never good looking enough, being told my dreams were ridiculous. I met some of the most interesting people in art, fashion, entertainment, for one moment I was beautiful and could believe in more, it was also a very lonely time. That is when I started searching for what it was that made me happy, made me whole.
Well to get back to the garment district I found the most beautiful lace today from a mill in france, handmade like they used to do in the early centuries, I want to create beautiful gowns from it.
I have some amazing news, a little red carpet surprise keep posted I will let you know what it is.
posted by malan breton at 6:46 PM
11 Comments:
Well the place that probably had the biggest impact on me was church. I had always gone to Catholic church when I was young but I hated it. Well about a year ago my friend took me and a few others to attend a service at his church. It was amazing to say the least. Everyone there was just so passionate about worshipping God, and where at other churches everyone would just stand around and mouth the words here people sang them out no matter how bad they sounded. They just wanted to pour their hearts out to Him in worship. So from then on I've been trying my best to dedicate my life to God, and tomorrow I am actually going to a mission trip to Mexico to help build houses for the homeless.
I don't mean to write this to to brag or anything, but that was such a big moment of my life it would be a crime to mention anything else.
I was at Niagra Falls three years ago with my parents and I looked into the beautiful gushing water and I knew who I wanted to be. I knew I had to try my hardest to be the best writer I could, the best person I could. I felt so one with the world. That's why it'll always be one of my favorite places in the world to be. Despite all the glittery tourism, I can still look at it and feel home.
For my eighteenth birthday, my grandparents brought me to Japan for a few weeks. I had been very stressed right up until the moment I got on the plane to meet my grandparents in Chicago. My grandmother and I took a bus to a sleepy mountain village called Arima Onsen - After a day spent in the village's hot springs, walking the mountain paths (during cherry blossom season, I might add - breathtaking), purchasing hand woven baskets, and meditating on the grounds of the buddhist temple, I realized something very important.
Compared to the ancient way of life around me, my worries and difficulties seemed like a grain of sand in the hourglass of time. The experience has helped me to tone down some of my perfectionism and tendency to be a workaholic. If I hadn't taken a clue, I don't know what type of a person I'd be today. Relaxing has made following my dreams much easier :)
Malan-
I was 7 and my school took a trip to see the symphony. I fell in love with the beautiful hall and the musicians on stage. It was then I decided I was going to be a classical musician...and I am. My music has taken me all over the world to perform and I have met some of the most wonderful people.
J
The place and moment that told me what I was and to have no fear: my spur of the moment trip to Manchester, UK in 1999. My friend Rayna invited me. She was a student at the acting school where I worked. I borrowed the money to get the ticket, flew in and stayed 12 glorious days with her Jamaican family. Ackee and saltfish in the morning and tea, East Enders, and The Guardian for the rest of my days. We visited her friends in Deptford, and we went to London. I had dreamed of St. James Park since I was 9 years old...but didn't know it. Deja Vu lifted me off my feet---Rayna looked at me and asked, "Have you been here? Do you know it here?" And of course, the physical answer was "no", it was my first trip to London. The spiritual answer was YES. How? Why? My father and I had had a famous argument when I was 14 and his parting shot was, "Oh, you think you're a QUEEN, don't you!" Well, I felt royal looking at Buckingham palace, KNOWING the statue of Victoria, and standing at the gates where all those flowers had been placed for Diana only two years prior at that point. "I've waited for this moment for most of my life." I told her about the dream, her jaw dropped, and she laughed her boisterous laugh which is why I love her. Never have I belonged more in a certain place at a certain time. A bit of the puzzle of "why" was given to me. Rayna told me she was glad I was in her life. I was thankful and AMAZED that it was she who gave me that moment. I took a leap of faith to travel across the ocean totally alone with very little money to visit a student whom I'd known only about 1 year. It was a marvelous gift, one I cherish. Every year since, when Rayna travels, I get postcards from where she's been. It's a bond and a lesson I never question. I remember it fondly.
As a child I fell asleep in an apple orchard in West Virginia and woke up and it was night under the stars. I had had an amazing dream and I never wanted to leave.
I had to when the adults came looking but what I was going back to was child abuse and I knew I had to get out of that bad place and back to feeling like I did that night under the trees and stars.
If you never know those feelings exist how can you know what to live/love for? I knew it then, if I was there once I could find that feeling again. Now I knew what to look for so the journey forward had hope for a happy ending afterall.
Its a tribute to the garment workers its not of anyone in particular but to all workers in the area :)
From a Labor Landmarks list:
"Garment Worker Statue 7th Ave. & 39th St. in Manhattan New York NY A garment worker sits at his sewing machine portraying generations of immigrant needle-trades workers. The statue is in the area of New York where the garment industry has been in existence since New York became an industrial town. The statue was sponsored by the garment district, designers, manufacturers, unions and bankers."
It was sitting on the balcony of a Gaudi apartment, enjoying ice cream, listening to the urban landscape and music below, as the sun set over Barcelona in the Summer of 1989. The world tilted toward such extreme beauty for a brief moment that it and I have never been the same since. Something was released and something was gained - it was just one of those inspiring beats-in-time that become inexplicably unforgettable among every other moment that goes by.
LONDON, barely out of my teens and I ran away to London. Immediately after checking in to the grim hostel that would be home for the next few months, I went to Picadilly Circus, and a doorman, watching as I took a photo asked where I was from and why I was in London in February. Upon hearing my story, he said, "It's not what you are running from that's important. It's what you are running to."
I think one of the more pivotal moments in my life was my first "real" day out in NYC with my dad. The friday after thanksgiving we stood in the line for the 1/2 price TKTS booth, got tickets to a matinee of Chicago, saw a movie, dropped into a museum (MOMA, I think) and the 5th Ave library, then went to another show in the evening (Showboat, I think). That was the first day I really appreciated the entirety of the city, the comfort of being with my dad, and the massive possibilities of the world around me.
I will never forget the summer I went to Paris by myself for 10 days. The most pivotal moment of that whole amazing trip was the day I walked into St. Chapelle. I had to sit down on a bench and weep for the sheer beauty of the place. I'm not even religious, in any traditional sense, but the experience of this cathedral put me in touch with a sense of what is sacred. Its beauty is unearthly. I've never before or since been moved to tears by a building. I will never forget how I felt like I was experiencing something divine there. It was blissful.
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