With the internet being more accessible than ever, the teens of today have a unique capability to see styles from all areas of the globe. But the world of youth fashion doesn’t just end with outfit experimentation; designing and producing clothes for personal wear and retail sale has become a passion for many young people. Who better to give the public a look into the life of a young designer than some of our very own Garfield bulldogs.

Fitzgerald Beaver-Ford, senior
Q: When did you become interested in fashion and designing clothes?
A: I’ve always had a passion for it, so I knew I wanted to do it when I was older. My first drop was last year but it took a few months. But I just decided to start it because I knew I wanted to do it and it was gonna take time to get influenced and stuff.
Q: Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
A: Virgil. Virgil Abloh
Q: What have you learned from your experience designing and making clothes?
A: I’ve learned it’s not easy, it’s not easy at all, and it takes time, it takes people to help you, it takes money, it takes marketing, it takes a lot of things.
Q: Who or what brand would you most want to collaborate with?
A: Nike. I for sure would want my own shoe. I would want my own shoe, and I would want to collab with Louis Vuitton, or OffWhite, or Chanel.
Q: Is there anything that you want to include?
A: Yes, follow my clothing line @Fitzparel on instagram.

George Martin, senior
Q: When did you become interested in fashion and designing clothes?
A: I started sewing during quarantine, and before that I became interested in clothes in eighth grade. Before that I didn’t care at all.
Q: Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
A: Probably Asspizza, Austin Babbitt, you know- in case you can’t say ass in the school newspaper, Raf Simons, A$AP Rocky.
Q: What is a current design or clothing trend you wish would die?
A: Eathtones, I hate earthtones. I hate those hats with the New York Yankees logo, the big Yankees logo and the LA logo hats, I hate them. Especially when they’re earthtone.
Q: How do you see your work evolving or how will you pursue design after high school?
A: I feel like it’s getting more complicated. Cuz it used to just be like making edits to something or making something simple. But now I make like the actual patterns and stuff like that. And after high school I want to go to design school.

Ellie Fein, senior
Q: Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
A: I don’t have one inspiration, like a person or thing that kind of guides my work, it’s more of like an internal feeling, so as I’m creating clothing I love to do it in 3D, I just like move things around on the mannequin and then I take pictures and then draw over that and move it more, and I like to go back to textures or silhouettes of objects. But there’s not one thing, it’s sort of whatever I’m feeling at the moment, and once I do one piece I move on and find something else for inspiration.
Q: When did you become interested in fashion and designing clothes?
A: I became interested in fashion design and clothing when I taught myself to sew when I did this like totally random little camp in like sixth grade, and ever since then I’ve just been teaching myself with youtube and other things, like the techniques and the details.
And then once I knew how to sew pretty well I thought that I wanted to go to Parsons pre-college and there I could make like a really beautiful gown. And I went there and I realized there’s so much more to sewing than just recreating the clothing that I’d seen around me, that you could design these super crazy artistic totally non-functional pieces and they could say so much more. And that’s been inspiring to me, and that’s sort of what introduced me to fashion and art and design and this entire world that I love so much.
Q:What have you learned from your experience designing and making clothes?
A: My experience designing clothing has just taught me so much more about this artistic world out there and all the possibilities that it holds.
Q: Is there anything else you want to share?
A: I have an instagram @byelliefien, and maybe pull out your mom’s sewing machine or your dad’s sewing machine and try sewing something because I randomly did and it’s completely changed my life ever since.