Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christine Evans. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Christine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?
I’ve always wanted to have my own brand ever since I was seven years old. I was able to create a six look, 20 piece thesis capsule collection my senior year of college upon graduating Parsons School of Design that I felt really showcased my design ethos and love for Americana inspired fashion. The collection combined my own personal style and love for color, graphics, nostalgia and I integrated hints of political influence into my clothing as well. I love exploring the relationship between fashion design and politics—something I want to continue to investigate in the future. To this day, this capsule collection is the body of work I’m most proud of and truly reflects what my craft is as a designer. I always look back to my thesis for inspiration, in times of creative-block and as my guiding north star—my vision for my brand.
Post grad, I was able to land a job in the industry, working at Kate Spade New York. That experience taught me a great deal about what comes with the territory of working in the Fashion Industry, most notably for an American affordable luxury brand. I learned incredibly valuable skills and made lifelong friendships with my co-workers and teammates. Just a year shy of working at Kate Spade, COVID-19 hit and our team was unfortunately dissolved. This proved to be a huge challenge in my career and, at the time, led me to doubt myself as a designer, the fashion industry and the world.
I was able to overcome this challenge with the support of family, friends, the comradery of my Kate Spade coworkers and believing in myself, which, at times, felt impossible. While I attempted to look for work during COVID-19 after I was laid-off, my former Kate Spade coworker, Devon Dagworthy, and myself founded our own little t-shirt brand, Data Based Fashion, that sold t-shirts to raise funds for the American Red Cross and their efforts to help fight the COVID-19 virus. We created Data Based Fashion to raise funds, pass the time and try to help in some capacity- to truly make a difference, rather than feeling like we were sitting on our couches all day. I learned a lot from Data Based Fashion and what it meant to be a small business owner—the triumphs, the tribulations and the work that goes into running a small brand. For this experience, I am forever grateful. While I was working on Data Based Fashion, I did land some freelance jobs here and there, freelancing back at Kate Spade for a bit, freelancing at Ralph Lauren for the Polo Menswear team, ultimately landing a full-time job there. Although I now work with a new employer, Vineyard Vines, I am very grateful for every opportunity I had because I have learned something new every step of the way, which has lead me to the place where I am now: finally ready to launch my own brand.
During my time working for Ralph, my dear friend Brady commissioned me to create a hand painted shirt, inspired by Bode, but encompassing my own personal style, for my best friend, her fiancé, Allie Johnson’s 25th birthday. This project was the honor of a lifetime, and, in creating this project, I realized that I really loved creating custom, hand-painted pieces. I decided I wanted to continue to pursue this medium as a creative outlet and an extension of my brand—a new creative service that would mean so much to so many.
I began sourcing vintage shirts in the market to use as my canvas to paint on, in an effort to up-cycle vintage clothing and give these shirts a new purpose in an effort to be sustainable, something I am very passionate about. I worked closely with the client for each shirt, learning about their stories, getting to know a part of their lives, collaborating with them about what their vision would be, what they would like painted on the shirt and why it was meaningful to them– all while infusing my own creative style into each piece. I have now worked on 10 + custom shirts and want to continue to create these custom pieces. In each one I learn so much about someone, either it being themselves, their family and/or friends who they are commissioning the shirt for. Whether it’s painting wildflowers significant to a person based on their geography, a scenic view significant to a person, even someone’s favorite desserts, each of these memories or moments captured on a shirt is significant to my clients, usually because of what the art represents: something nostalgic, which is something I love to represent throughout my clothing. Not only do these custom pieces act as a creative outlet for myself, as well as a tool to express my creative style, but they also tell a story for each person I work with, and, for me, telling a story through clothing is and has always been an important aspect in everything I do.
These custom pieces have become a focal point for my brand and have also inspired me to create additional capsule collections to launch my brand into a more commercial line. For example: recently, I have created a line of tees and scarves inspired by my good friend, Allison Jones, and her favorite desserts. Allison is someone who is incredibly driven, bubbly, supportive, kind and, when I say the sweetest person on the planet, I mean it. One interaction with her and you’ll find yourself smiling from ear to ear. She is THAT wonderful. She commissioned me to make a custom shirt, requesting I painted her favorite desserts: confetti cake, crème brûlée, key lime pie and strawberry shortcake. I wanted to paint the shirt in my own stylistic ethos and integrate as much color into the shirt as I could, while keeping it tasteful, to really show Allison’s vibrant personality. Not only was this shirt one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever worked on, but I loved the idea of painting food as a medium on clothing—food, desserts especially, bring me so much joy and I loved experimenting with how I could bring this joy to Allison. Moreover, this project really allowed me to work through a creative block I was experiencing. The project brought a great deal of joy back into my life and my creative process, so much so, that her piece inspired me to create a spinoff capsule. Named after Allison, and with her permission to expand on the idea she inspired, I am now selling theses tees and scarves to spread this joy in a more commercial way. The products are fun, playful and meaningful to my dear friend, which makes them even more meaningful to me. This capsule collection is not only something I am so proud of because it’s something made out of love for a dear friend and what she loves, but I am also so proud because it is a starting point for me as I continue to expand and grow my brand into something actually viable. As I continue to work on these projects, I hope to expand on these ideas further to increase traction for my brand, expand my range of product and continue to make people connect and resonate with my clothing, as I was able to do with Allison.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I may have answered a bit of this in the previous question but as mentioned before: I always knew I wanted to have my own clothing brand. I think my first design ever was a colored pencil drawing of a set of long sleeve tootsie roll pajamas, with short sleeves layered on top (I was seven in the early 2000s so you can put two and two together with a style like that).
I was born and raised in Washington, D.C. My parents were both involved in politics, which really shaped my upbringing. I think being surrounded by monuments, American flags and overall political activity greatly influenced my love for American sportswear—not to be mistaken with athletic-wear. As a result, I always gravitate towards U.S.A., red white and blue and collegiate graphic themes and clothing to this day. I would find myself gushing over tri-color grosgrain tapes in Shindo while I was in college, freaking out about how I could use these trims on some kind of garment I was making.
As I was growing up in D.C., I found myself always taking art classes, doodling in notebooks, going to art camps on the side and expanding my knowledge of everything art-related I could get my hands on. I attended an all-girls private school from 4th-12th grade that I adored. I received a wonderful education in high school, which I’m incredibly grateful for, and, while my high school was known for being incredibly intellectually stimulating and had a fabulous art program, they were not as well known for sending girls to design schools: which was my ultimate goal.
Just before the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, my ceramics and drawing and painting teachers, Leslie Eckmann and Catherine Batza, suggested I attend the Parsons Summer Program up in New York City, as they had a fashion design pre-college program, similar to the university’s curriculum, to really immerse myself in what it would be like to attend a true design school. I took their advice and attended the Parsons Summer Program that summer, which was probably one of the best things I have ever done—to this day I consider that summer, the summer of 2013, the summer that changed my life.
I was 16 years old and experiencing my own freedom and independence for the first time in one of the most major global cities and the minute I arrived that summer in NYC, I was hooked: I immersed myself in all things New York City while I attended the pre-college program. I lived in the 13th street dorms in Greenwich Village, attended classes that took place all around the city, from midtown, to Greenwich, East and West Village, Chelsea and all things downtown. I shopped for fabric in the garment district, learned valuable design and technology resources like Adobe Creative Suite Projects, sketched my heart out any chance I could, and made life-long friendships with other attendees while there. Some of my classmates and professors that I had while I was attending the summer program went on to be my actual classmates and professors, ultimately when I attended Parsons for undergrad just 2 years later. I’m even in one of my best friend’s weddings next year, Allie Johnson (mentioned previously), who I roomed with during the Parsons Summer Program—so I am incredibly grateful for every opportunity I had that summer and how it shaped my friendships and my life today.
Upon returning to D.C. the following school year, heading into my junior year, I now had a north star for what I wanted to do and where I wanted to be: to return to New York City to attend design school. I took every art class I could in high school to build my portfolio, working closely with my art teacher and mentor, Catherine Batza, who guided me through each step of the way. I ended up returning to New York the following summer to take courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology for three weeks, rounding out the summer by spending two weeks over in London, England at Central Saint Martins for their pre-college courses as well. In attending these programs, I was able to make a concrete decision about which universities I wanted to attend and how to move forward. Each program was incredibly enlightening and to this day I can’t believe how lucky I am to have attended programs from all three universities. My heart, however, stuck with Parsons and with a great deal of hard work, support from my family and Mrs. Batza, I was able to attend Parsons in the fall of 2015.
Throughout my time at Parsons, I learned so much about the fashion industry: the history of fashion, the techniques and tools necessary to create a thoughtful collection with depth and craft, how to improve my design skills and really play around with a variety of mediums and explore which medium I loved the most. I made wonderful connections with professors and classmates, developing my network I still have today here in the city. It truly is amazing to see where some of my classmates have ended up and how they are transforming the art, design and fashion industries. Most notably at Parsons, I developed my own identity and what that looks like through my brand.
As mentioned previously, I want my brand to encompass who I am and tell my story as a designer: an americana brand that feels colorful, somewhat quirky and takes influences from nostalgia while ultimately telling a story. The objectives of my brand are to create timeless, unique pieces that resonate with my personal style, while connecting with others that want to buy my product. I want my name to be synonymous with my work. I want my name to by synonymous with capturing that American spirit: what it looks like, what it feels like when America is at its best, but still reflects who I am: someone who is silly, playful, authentic, colorful, confident and kind to others. I want my name to be synonymous with someone who attempted to bridge a gap/ find a relationship between clothing and politics. What that looks likes? I am still unsure but I plan to explore this throughout my career and my life. Most importantly, I want my clothing to bring joy to others. There is something about the art of nostalgia and history and the emotion it gives people. I want to capture that emotion through my clothing, every time someone puts a product of mine on.
I’m most proud of the values behind my brand: to connect people based on commonality in product. I’m proud of the work I’ve put in to establish my design ethos and see how that ethos will respond with others who may share a similar interest. I’m also incredibly proud of how my brand is an extension of myself, my family, my friends and people I care about, and gives a physical representation of how I feel or how my clients feel about themselves.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I definitely think there is sometimes a disconnect between creatives and non-creatives—not a huge one, but sometimes almost a generational disconnect as well. (I secretly think even non-creatives find some kind of creative outlet to express themselves even if they consider themselves to be more analytical: maybe through cooking, how they decorate their home or desk; even an accountant can find a way to make numbers poetic, something I certainly cannot do!) I feel like my purpose as a creative is to tell my story through the medium I know, which happens to be through fine arts, clothing and fashion design. My work tends to always go back to storytelling, whether it’s my own story, or inspired by others (with their permission of course). I really believe the way we dress is a vehicle for storytelling: we wear the clothing we do because 1. We feel good in it and enjoy the confidence it brings us, 2. Because we want to be perceived in a certain way and 3. Clothing provides functionality purposes. With these three factors in mind, we are in essence, telling a story about ourselves. The band t-shirt you’re wearing out on a Friday night signifies that you LOVE that band. A certain traditional garment represents something significant to a particular culture, whether in color, fabrication or embroidery, that is to be worn during a specific culturally significant event. You wear a certain work uniform, which indicates your profession and what you’ve chosen to do as a career path. There is a lot of depth and thought put into clothing and what it represents, and I think that idea can get lost in translation to non-creatives. It’s sort of like in “The Devil Wears Prada” where Miranda Priestley explains to Andy why her cerulean sweater may mean nothing to her, but in reality that sweater means SO MUCH MORE, especially to creatives. A shirt is a shirt, you like it, so you put it on. Sure. That’s true. But to me, at least, clothing has a lot of value in who I am, how I want to be perceived and represents the story I am trying to tell. I think that can feel silly to some non-creatives, but hopefully through my clothing and collections I can at least bring joy, commonality, depth and some kind of story to my work that maybe some non-creatives will be able to understand, and if not understand, just enjoy for the sake of owning a great product.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My overall goal and mission through my creative journey is to explore the relationship between fashion, politics and how my product can express this through my Americana influence and perspective. As an American, I do have a lot of pride for my country, however, during this tumultuous time, I have found myself questioning what it means to be an American. Maybe my clothing, in some way, can transform what the narrative of being an American is, one that does have a classic American style, but also embraces and accepts new styles, ideas, traditions. I want to see how my product reflects my life story but also how this product can relate to others who feel the same, or just resonate with my pieces. Ultimately I do think my goal is to explore the idea of storytelling through clothing because, at the end of the day, storytelling is really all we have, right?
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christinemarieevans.com/shop
- Instagram: @christineevansart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christine.evans.2015/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-evans-3b27a2113/
Image Credits
1. Fernando Osorio 2. Fernando Osorio 3. Data Based Fashion 4. Allie Johnson 5. Alex Sapp 6. Alex Sapp 7. Alex Sapp 8. Christine Evans 9. Christine Evans