We were lucky to catch up with Diane D’angelo recently and have shared our conversation below.
Diane, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
To support women in a man based industry.
So many important decisions need to be made to be a successful entrepreneur and this bridal industry does not educate the owners. It should be a win win but many are drained of money with the false promises of success. Not ever business fits into the corporate mold . There are some many factors that can affect how the business operates and trusting women are being taken advantage of
Diane, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I started sewing at 8 and started drawing designs in grade school. I was highly inspired by fine art and of course Bob Mackie from the Sonny and Cher period . Salvador Dali with his painting inside a painting inside a painting, what I do when I design, I want them to look at my dresses just as you would a beautiful painting and enjoy each element in its own right and then move onto the next element, but then all the all the elements come together, harmoniously and the functionality is there for me. You have to have the right structure. You have to have the right fabric and you have to have something that sets your designs apart from other people. I hate seeing people just doing the same thing that other people are doing.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
My business was started in 1988 after my husband actually tried to kill me and so with that trauma, I was trying to launch my company. The PTSD was extremely hard to work through and being self funded. There were many a year that I wondered if this was the year I was going to go bankrupt at one time I was living in my warehouse on a mattress And I was thankful for the mattress. I thankfully have 2° and I made my money to live on through my interior design, and that kept my fashion moving forward no banks would give a single woman any kind of finances that didn’t have a house attached to it so I boot dropped my business and that makes you strong and makes you able to pivot and look at your business critically and get rid of what doesn’t work and expand on what does
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I was not given much encouragement on what my dreams wanted to be from a small town in Ohio. I was told that I was crazy thinking that I could be a contender with the larger companies out there and surely I would fail but almost 40 years later, I’m still around. I thank God for my mother and my art teacher who always encouraged me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Dangelocouture.com
- Instagram: Dangelo_bridal
- Facebook: D’Angelo Couture
Image Credits
Diane D’Angelo