Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shireen Jamehdor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Shireen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally as soon as I fully understood the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Looking at things I wrote as a child around the age of 9, the recurring theme was that I wanted to be an artist and a fashion designer. I also remember wanting to be a cartoonist for Disney at some point. I always liked to draw from a very young age, but it wasn’t until college, after enrolling in a variety of courses, that I decided to pursue a career in fashion. I ended up getting a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fashion design from Columbia College in Chicago, and then moved to Los Angeles to start my career a few months later. I’ve worked in the fashion industry for over 15 years, but during that time I had put my fine art skills on the back burner. When the pandemic hit and I was spending almost all of my time at home, I had a sort of artistic revival when it came to painting. I eventually came up with the idea to merge my fine art and fashion skills to create my Art Of Uniformity® label where I upcycle vintage uniforms by transforming them into wearable works of art. I recently created a website that is dedicated to my fine art and wearable art at https://shireenrenee.com/. It’s pretty remarkable to be fulfilling the creative path(s) I had written about when I was 9 years old. I’m a firm believer that the things we should do when we “grow up” shouldn’t be too far off from the things we take an interest in as kids.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My art business is divided into two core groups: wearable art and visual art. In both my art and fashion practices, I enjoy upcycling materials to make unique, one-of-a-kind pieces. I’m a self-taught oil painter, which is usually my medium of choice, but more recently I have been doing a lot of mixed media pieces using various things like pistachio shells, seashells, aluminum can tabs, bottle caps, etc. All of the materials I use are things I have collected from myself and my family’s post-consumer waste. It’s really interesting and enjoyable to see the kind of art I can create using unconventional art supplies that would normally be considered trash. For just pistachio shells alone, I’ve been able to render textures like bird feathers, reptile skin, hair, fruit skin, and fish scales. For my Art Of Uniformity® wearable art pieces, I find gently used vintage uniforms (mostly military) from all over the world as a canvas for my art. Sometimes the art will be hand-painted onto the garment, or it will involve hand-sewing techniques and sometimes a combination of the two. One of the most tedious pieces I worked on was a French vintage Eisenhower jacket that I sewed dozens of hand-picked, gold-painted seashells. I prefer to upcycle garments because for one thing, it’s more eco-friendly, and because it gives someone the opportunity to own something that no one else in the world has. Every garment tells a story and is a collectible work of art in its own right. I also have a gift shop within my website that gives collectors the opportunity to own some of my original art as a print or on a variety of products like t-shirts, mugs, and totes. All the items are made to order which means it’s more eco-friendly and cuts down considerably on waste and overproduction.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I would say the goal driving my creative journey is to be happy. When I think about the times I feel the most energized, inspired or motivated, it’s when I’m in my creative element. When I get into an uninhibited creative flow state, it almost feels like I’m in a trance. It can be very meditative in a way, and it feels wonderful. So much of my career in fashion was spent doing things I didn’t enjoy, and the things I did create were always dictated by someone else’s visions and terms…the “golden handcuffs” if you will. All I’ve ever wanted is to be able to live and create on my terms, to use my hands for bringing my authentic, artistic visions to life. For me, this is happiness and it’s what I want to experience every day for the rest of my life.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

In retrospect, one major thing that I wish I had known earlier in my life as someone with a very entrepreneurial spirit was that learning the business side of things in addition to your craft is very necessary. I realize now that getting a degree in fashion design was only part of the knowledge I needed to build a brand. If you’re learning a creative field with the goal of starting a business, it should always be accompanied by business courses. Otherwise, you’ll end up being a highly-skilled technician working for someone else’s business, or you’ll make a lot of big, expensive, and usually avoidable mistakes as you navigate through entrepreneurship (I have experienced both of these scenarios). I would even say that the creative journey is something that doesn’t necessarily require traditional schooling, as I have noticed many people starting successful clothing brands or other creative-type businesses that never had formal training, but they did have more-developed business experience or knowledge. If you love something enough, even if you’re not very skilled at it yet, you’ll find ways to learn and get better at it, especially if the goal is to make it your livelihood. In my case, visual artmaking has always come naturally to me, but the technicalities of fashion and garment-making were something I learned in school. And even with that knowledge, most of what I know about fashion came with the experience of working in the industry, not from my schooling. With all the free resources we have at our disposal (internet, library, in-person workshops, free online courses, local business mentorship programs, etc.) pursuing a lucrative career in the arts has become more affordable and democratic than ever. Some resources I can recommend are coursera.org for free online classes in a variety of different subjects, and score.org which is a free business mentorship program.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shireenrenee.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shireenreneeart/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShireenRenee/featured
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Shireenreneearts?ref=seller-platform-mcnav