Every designer has a story behind a design. For this jacket, it's a story that starts in late 2012, when my life changed forever.
I was starting my first semester of college. Life was amazing and I thought I finally found a place where I belonged. I made the most amazing friends and we all went to Nashville for fall break. One night in October, while driving back to my friend's house from dinner, I decided to call my dad to check in. It was around 9 o'clock so I wasn't sure if he would answer but he did. I'll never forget the sound of his voice or what he said. He said that face has swollen up and he had trouble breathing. I knew that meant only one thing: the lung cancer has returned.
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My father relapsed with lung cancer in November 2012. The cancer was eating away his right lung, his only lung. He had his first fight with cancer in 2008 in his left lung. The lung was removed and he went into remission. He was only one year away from being officially cancer free. I saw my father's health slowly fail. He was scheduled for chemotherapy. I spent as much time as I could with him. I was living on my college campus so I could only come on the weekends. But the drive is only about 30 minutes so I did what I could to see him. He even pulled all his strength together one Thursday to visit me on campus. He couldn't walk far without stopping to breathe. I couldn't imagine his pain and all I wanted to do was cry. He left campus early and returned home. Later that night I got a call around 10 o' clock saying that he was taken to the Emergency Room. When I got there I watched as my father was being attached to what seemed to be a million wires. He was scheduled to start chemo the next Tuesday but he was already too sick. I didn't leave the hospital until 1 a.m. I didn't feel like driving back to campus so I just went home and waited for news.
The weekend was hectic. My entire family came to the hospital as my father lied helplessly in the I.C.U section of the hospital. He couldn't talk and he couldn't breathe without an oxygen masks. On Sunday I had to go back to campus for the following week but I didn't want to leave. My mom said she would call if anything new happened. I went back to campus and sat in my dorm room listening to songs my father and I use to sing together. Then at 5:02 p.m. my mother called. MY father passed away at exactly 5 o' clock, holding my mother's hand.
My father, Robert Wilson Allison, died on November 11th 2012, two weeks before my 18th birthday
My world turned grey after he passed away. I didn't know what to do. I didn't understand why this had to happen. The rest of the semester I had to push myself out of bed in the morning to go to class. I hated life and even had some dark thoughts. I had to no idea how to move on, so I did the only thing I was relativity good at. I designed. I received a plain Old Navy denim jacket for Christmas and went to work. I poured all my emotions and feelings into the design. I decided to go with an angel design in honor of my dad. I drew out an angel wing template and sewed on the lace wings, one lace layer at a time. Then I put gold and silver trim on the cuffs. And finally I sewed on chains to the pockets. The overall theme of the jacket is being in an unknown place. Like an angel who fell from heaven. It parallels the feeling I felt when my dad passed away. Learning that the world isn't a perfect place. It was Ultimately God who saved me from grief but I believe he used my designing skills as a tool. So with that said I hope you enjoy my design and the understand it better.
Every design has a story behind it. You just have to transfer the emotion onto the clothing
Love,
Rachel
Jacket is originally from Old Navy without any personal details
Skirt is from Rue 21
Shoes from Converse
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