We recently connected with Rachel Moran and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rachel , thanks for joining us today. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.
The best boss I ever had is my current boss at a theatre company that I work for. She has been very understanding and flexible. She was very accommodating with my work schedule, considering that I was also in college when first hired. I had to be an unpaid intern at first before I was hired so she could see if I was able to perform my assigned tasks effectively. As long as I communicated any schedule conflicts or similar with her in advance, she was very accommodating. Whenever I had questions about the garments that I was supposed to pattern and/or sew, she was mostly available to talk to for clarification. She is more than just a boss to me. She is a valued mentor.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Rachel Moran, I work as a freelance fashion designer, and I am on the spectrum. I provide custom clothing and patternmaking services. I can alter ready-to-wear garments, I can customize and sew store-bought patterns, and I can create patterns of my own. I have 17 years of sewing experience, and about 15 years of patterning experience. I additionally enjoy the art of crochet on the side.
I have been interested in fashion and wardrobe design from a very young age. Sometime in high school is when I started to pursue studying those subjects. I was a sophomore with sewing experience and was artistically inclined. I attended a class in high school called “World of Fashion”. We learned the different names of garment styles, sleeve styles, collar styles, etc. Each of the students during the class learned how to draft and sew a pencil skirt that fit ourselves. I received the highest score in the class for that skirt project.
Furthermore, towards the end of the year, the students put on a fashion show. In the fashion show, every student in the class needed to have at least three people modeling clothes inspired by a chosen theme. For my theme, I wanted to mix two styles from two artists back in 2007 to create an ending look that gives off effeminate Michael Jackson vibes. I sewed half of the garments worn for my theme, and the rest I used were from my closet.
So the first look down the runway was inspired by Avril Lavigne, the second by Taylor Swift, and the last was a combination of the first two looks that successfully gave off effeminate Michael Jackson vibes. The art students, participants’ relatives and other classes came to watch the school fashion show. When they saw my looks, the audience went loud. My mother had attended the event. She told me after the show that the students cheered the loudest when my designs walked the runway. At the end of the fashion show, I received second place in the show.
I was elated by the whole experience that day. I felt I was destined to pursue a career in Wardrobe design from then on.
Aside from my fashion backstory, there are a couple of things that I am most proud of.
I am very proud of my first collection from college. It was inspired by the importance of environmental preservation for the sake of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest’s biodiversity. Both of my parents are veterinarians, and I believe that I get my love and respect for animals from them. Through a unique use of biomimicry, Each of my five produced looks were inspired by an animal from the amazon rainforest. The animals that inspired each look were the poison dart frog, the morpho butterfly, the jaguar, the scarlet macaw, and the red-bellied piranha. When looking at photos of them, instead of getting intimidated by their fierce nature, I embraced their strikingly beautiful color patterns as my inspiration. At the same time, I wanted to keep the designs fashion worthy without interpreting my inspiration literally. Some of the finished garments were completely crocheted and/or had crochet elements incorporated into them.
The second thing that I am very proud of is that I got to work as the assistant costume designer for my local theatre for their first 4 productions during the later COVID-19 period. I sent my collection portfolio to my boss (the residential costume designer) via email, and she was thoroughly impressed. She then replied to my email asking me to be her assistant for that upcoming season. I was so proud of myself that year. I felt that my work was heard.
I would like my fans to know that just because you have a “label” does not mean that you cannot achieve everything else others can. You will find where you fit in the world. Just do not diss your abilities.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
To me, the most rewarding aspect of being a artist in my field is being able to create and wear what I want without having to go to the department stores. If I can sketch my garments, I can sew them. I had a lot of freedom on what I wanted to wear through mastering my craft over time.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I have had many tough situations in my lifetime. To name a few, I attended 3 different high schools due to moving to a different state twice, in tandem with having a high functioning ASD [autism spectrum disorder] diagnosis. Despite those situations, plus some, I still made mostly A’s in high school, and graduated with honors. After high school, I attended LSU in Baton Rouge, LA for my freshman year. Unfortunately, because of a nearly untreatable mental health episode, I had to put my college sophomore year on hold for roughly a year for immediate mental hospitalization.
Half a year after it, while undergoing rehabilitation, I resumed finishing my college career at Houston Community College as a part-time student. I started steadily making excelling grades again, while learning how to manage my adult life during rehabilitation. By my last year of rehabilitation, I became a full-time student and signed up for five classes at HCC for the Fall 2018 semester. At the end of it, I earned a 4.000 GPA for that semester, and graduated HCC with highest honors in 2021.
Image Credits
Houston Community College and volunteer Fashion Models – Fashion Show photos