This past week has been a whirlwind because FeltHappiness hats debuted at Style Week Pittsburgh's 2019 Fashion Show.
The Catalyst
In the photograph above, can you see the woman in the shiny green skirt? That's Lana Neumeyer, the energetic and creative designer, influencer, and catalyst. You can see me, Juliane Gorman, wearing a black dress and kneeling on the far left side. Everyone else in the photo is a runway model.
Interestingly, I met Lana when she visited my booth at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. (You can see that she enjoyed my hats very much in my Instagram). Of course, we chatted. Kindly, she encouraged me to get more involved with the local fashion community - specifically, Style Week Pittsburgh.
Listen to the Voices
Skeptically, I almost made the mistake of ignoring her generous encouragement. Fortunately, I emailed her some of the photos I took of her modeling hats in my craft fair booth. Whew! This easy-to-do-follow-through turned out to be a very good thing because it led to further connecting. She was curious about felt. Could she come and see? Of course! I love to share felt! As a result, we got together in my studio, where I shared the feltmaking process.
Unexpected Invitation
Our meetup led to her requesting that we collaborate by using my hats with her clothing. And so we did. However, this was a much bigger event than I expected. I had assumed that my hats would just be accessories and that perhaps I might get a line in the program. However, this really was a debut - my hats were given equal billing with the other designers!
In the Press
Unexpectedly, (at least to me) I and some of the other designers 'got' into the newspaper. Post-Gazette Reporter, Sara Bauknecht wrote three articles about Style Week. Surprisingly, I was 'namechecked' in THIS and THIS article.
Additionally, one of Lana's dresses, with one of my hats was featured in the newspaper's mobile app.
Try it and See
In conclusion, you never know where life may take you. At the beginning of the summer, I had no idea that my felted hats would be part of a fashion show or that I would be mentioned as a designer in the newspaper. I was merely sharing my love of feltmaking and hats with Lana. It was Lana's energy that helped achieve these results.
As Megan Auman recommends in her book, Try it & See: how to get sh*t done while over analyzing everything... ,without taking a risk, you will never know. I'm so glad that I said yes to Lana Neumeyer and Style Week Pittsburgh!