Little Designers in the Making

I've been wanting to volunteer at my son's preschool in an arts n' crafts project with the kids. Since my studio is chock full of fabrics, buttons, sequins, beads, ric rac, and other preschool-friendly trim, I thought it only appropriate to do a Fashion Design project with them. My son and I did a little "run through" the night before to test that my project would be foul-proof and keep his attention. I had pre-cut with a template a bunch of little t-shirts, pants, and dresses in various fabrics (denim, ultra-suede, aloha prints, and cotton shirting fabrics) - sort of like paper dolls. Then it was just up to the kids to customize and decorate the tops, bottoms, and dresses with their choice of trims using fabric glue. For the real run-through, the kids had a blast gluing, appliqueing, and creating their own one-of-a-kind little designs. And let me tell you, these kids love their glue! At ages 3 and 4 years-old, they haven't quite mastered the art of gluing. Some actually went overkill on the glue and it became a decoration in itself! Both the boys and girls equally enjoyed the task of "designing" their miniature outfits. The boys especially enjoyed using the "cowboy" trim (a brown ultra-suede fringe) and the girls without a doubt piled on the sequins and flower appliques (little Tommy Hilfigers and Cynthia Rowley's in the making!) When all the outfits were complete, we mounted them on colored construction paper to display their unique designs. I was so proud to see their beautiful work, all done without any thought what so ever. Talk about spontaneous design! These preschoolers had a natural knack for design - there were no rules, self-doubt, or worries of copy-right infringement on their minds! For real designers you're always confronted with over-thinking your designs, worried about trends and what's going on in the market, or self-doubting your creations. But these little designers with all their innocence, were free to create without any baggage. God Bless them! If only all the Marc Jacobs, Nanette Lepores, and Philip Lims of the design world could be so free to design and create without outside influences (and this includes myself as a designer for sure!!) Stay tuned for a video of the Angel Room kids at work on their little masterpieces!