Almost a decade ago, I started my career in fashion. I’ve been in styling, visual merchandising, and buying, both in fast fashion and designer brands. As human beings, we all like cute stuff, but my interest in fashion is far beyond the surface of pretty things. I see fashion as a deeply personal experience. The clothing we wear is a reflection of our values, it’s how we see ourselves, and how we want to be seen by others.
Being in the fashion industry means working alongside women 90% of the time. And what I discovered is that women are truly incredible. Women are willful, their brains can map things well, and their beauty is contagious. After all, who runs the world? Auralie means golden in Latin, and there is no better word to represent what women are, in my eyes.
I love what I do and wouldn’t trade with any other job in the world. However, this is an industry where overconsumption is often encouraged. The impact of buying things that don’t last is drowning the world. If you ask me, yes, I plead guilty. The good news is as consumers, we all have agency and power to change the status quo. Consumers own real power to make choices of which businesses to support and purchase from.
It takes effort to start shifting our mindset to buy quality over quantity, and committing to only purchasing sustainable fashion is not always accessible. But buying things that are well made is a small step we can take to make a difference. By buying quality, we are saying no to overconsumption.
My hope for Auralie is to present to you a new way of looking at fashion. Let’s stop consuming clothes, but rather live in and shine through them. We’ll be opening our doors soon -- I hope you’ll join us on this adventure of committing our lives to quality.