I am so excited that I'm finally able to release this dress! It has definitely been a long time coming!
Let's do a little recap on the dress: My original design/idea for this dress was to be a simple fit and flare dress with a little ruffle sleeve and a keyhole back with a button closure. When I met lady X who claimed to be someone who wanted to help me, she talked me out of doing a keyhole closure with a button, which was my mistake, I should never let someone talk me out of my own vision. Anyway, she insisted I did a tie closure because buttons don't belong on kids clothes, which is another big mistake! How many of you mama's buy clothes that have buttons for your little ones? I know I have so many! I trusted this person and decided to go with her idea and do a tie closure, even though in my gut I knew that was the wrong way to go, because tie closures seem way more dangerous, right?
Bow: So, when I finally pushed and pushed for her to complete my production, even after she was paid (insert super hard eyeroll emoji here), she sent me boxes of dresses that had ruffle sleeves that stood up (think pointy Sci-Fi like clothing) and NO KEYHOLE AT ALL! Where was my keyhole?!?! The production she sent me did NOT match the sample she made me. When I contacted lady X about it, of course, she blamed me and said it's against the law to use a tie closure and that she ran it by me, which is a total LIE. Even if she did, a new sample should be made without said keyhole to be approved before production, but slowly I learned she doesn't really care to do what's best for her clients.
So here I was, staring at these boxes of dresses that I invested my money into, these dresses that someone else made into their vision instead of my own. I felt so defeated.
Forward to a couple of months ago, I met a new manufacturer, who I have been super careful with, haha! I shared my story with her and she could totally tell that I had been burned because I was being very hesitant with leaving anything with her. We chatted for so long, I felt a connection with her, but again, I'm being super careful. She gave me the amazing idea of letting her fix the dresses that I have in hopes to make some of my money back to reinvest into Mila James. I have NO IDEA why I didn't think of that myself, haha! As a favor and to help me gain her trust, she gave me an incredible deal and fixed my dresses for me! She fixed the ruffles and added my keyhole WITH the button.
Let me tell you, it's SO incredibly hard to have so many ideas that you can't produce. It's so hard to see other people coming out with their collections only to have nothing more to offer your clients. I know, I should never compare myself to others because we all have different stories and journeys that lead up to where we are. But it's still hard to see. I have a book where I write all my ideas and little sketches, and most days, it seems like that's exactly where it'll stay - in my book. I hope to create collections, look books, and do more styling because it's all that I love! I hope to bring more than one piece at a time to you all, but for now, this is a part of my story. Everything that is happening is happening for a reason, right? I may only have one thing to release at a time but I will definitely put my heart into each piece!
I'm so excited to finally release a dress because my little inspiration, Mila, is obsessed with dresses, OBSESSED! BECAUSE DRESSES ARE LIFE! It's all she wears, she literally fights me when I put pants on her! She's such a little threenager but she's my little threenager and I love her more than she'll ever know!
Dress is NOW in the shop, click here to shop!