This past week, designer Jillian Lanae Hackett got to show off her fashion brand’s debut at New York Fashion Week for the Spring/Summer 2023 season. The brand, Lillian Jenae Designs, is a sustainable and made-to-order clothing label that aims to combine a sense of whimsy with wearability and comfort. The collection, titled Bloom, incorporated high-end, silky fabrics with playful colors and design to create garments meant to enhance a woman’s natural beauty. The release has been long-anticipated, as Hackett has faced debut delays with shows being canceled due to COVID. Hackett, now an apparel design student at Texas Tech University, has been crafting this collection since she was in high school. Now, pre-orders for select styles from Bloom will be available beginning September 15 on the Lillian Jenae Designs website. Keep an eye out for the official drop in February—you can find updates on Instagram.
PATTERN had the opportunity to chat with Hackett prior to her NYFW debut, and we’ve got all the details on her experience creating Bloom in the Q+A below.
Katie Freeman: In Bloom, each garment is meant to enhance a woman’s natural beauty. How do your designs achieve this goal?
Jillian Hackett: I like to play around with texture and different colors that are flattering on any skin tone, any body type. Whenever it comes to creating the silhouette of the garment, I think of something that’s wearable but also can function as a statement piece.
Peach tones are something you’ll see in the collection. Satin is something that is very flattering; it brings a glow up to your face. I work with a lot of vibrant colors. Whenever you have that pop of color on you, you have that pop in your step. You have more energy about you.
KF: You were originally invited to NFYW in 2019, but delays pushed back your debut. Has the collection shifted during that time?
JH: It definitely evolved a lot. And as I’ve learned more with my schoolwork, being able to learn different techniques and grow my technical skills, my design skills have also grown and blossomed in that area.
KF: What gave you the confidence to pursue your dream of creating a fashion brand?
JH: A lot of that confidence is saying came from my junior year apparel design teacher, Mrs. Duke. She pushed me outside of my comfort zone. I entered my first large-scale statewide competition for fashion design during my junior year of high school. That was a really rewarding experience. I got second in the state. It kind of gave me that confidence boost I needed to say, “If I really want to pursue this, this is something that might actually be feasible for me.”
KF: How have your designs evolved from that initial competition?
JH: My designs have become a lot less conceptual and more wearable. I can fully go through the process of having a very avant-garde idea and making it into something that someone can wear on a daily basis. I used to want to focus on evening wear and bridal, and now I’ve gone more into ready-to-wear womenswear.
KF: From sourcing to sewing, there’s so much work that goes into a fashion collection. Do you do everything yourself?
JH: It is a one-man show. I manage sourcing my materials, pattern making, draping, and sewing the final garments. I am looking into getting a manufacturer set up so I can have a larger vault and a larger volume of orders. That way, I don’t have to have to be pulling from my schoolwork or balancing business.
KF: As a student, how do you find time to work on creating fashion designs?
JH: I’m really fortunate to have my college schedule where I don’t have classes on Fridays. I focus on doing my schoolwork Monday through Thursday. As soon as Friday morning hits, I focus on business and designing on my own outside of my schoolwork. I use my weekend timeframe to push through and try to get everything I need done.
KF: What does your creative process look like?
JH: My creative process really started with my love for photography. I work as a freelance photographer on the side whenever I have time. I like to work on editing styles for my photography. That’s where I got my color palette drawn from.
For the different silhouettes and textures of the collection, I spend a lot of time creating vision boards and thinking about what functions I want the people who are wearing these clothes to be able to perform. I try to find silhouettes and ideas and concepts that really go along with those purposes.
Then I go into my sketching period. Sketching is my favorite thing. I sketch digitally. My sketching is a little bit larger-than-life for ready-to-wear brands, so I have to pull in the reins a little bit and focus on making it wearable. Then it goes into the draping and patterning process and I start sourcing fabrics.
KF: As a takeaway, what are three words you’d use to describe Bloom?
JH: Vibrant, whimsical, and cheerful.
