Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Maria Brady.
Anna Maria, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I got my start in the creative world as a fine art sculptor, and I was actually aiming to study architecture. My love for the arts comes from an ability to follow a concept that others can relate to, and interpreting it into something that those people can inhabit and be closely involved with.
The sculpture was a great place to start, but I needed to be closer with my customer, and that is what architecture was able to provide. I was able to create an environment where that person or people could live, creating their own memories and expanding upon the chosen concept for that piece of work.
But it wasn’t enough, I needed to be even closer to my customer – hence the change into fashion. Through the medium of apparel, I am able to be involved with my customers on the most intimate level. Every day, my customer is interacting first hand with the concepts I am exploring and becoming one with my work. I think of my work as not only the clothes I produce but the people that will be inhabiting them, living in them – creating stories and memories while wearing them. It gives my work a deeper meaning; it is the ultimate realization of each concept and piece.
Has it been a smooth road?
Stick to your guns, be confident that your work is important, that your work is what the world needs. Upon graduating high school, I was told to take time off and really think about the career and the future I wanted. I was told that I wasn’t cut out for the art world, nor would I be accepted by any university. My mother is the one that sat me down and really pushed me, she showed me that I had a talent and that I needed to show people what I could do. I went forward and applied to 12 of the top universities, including Parsons, Cornell, and Drexel, and ended up being accepted into all of them with significant scholarship offers. If I hadn’t of listened to my mother, been confident in what I could offer, and ignored the advice of my teachers at the time, I would have never achieved all that I have today. Believe in yourself, and believe in your brand!
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I am a unisex designer, specializing in tailored streetwear. The most defining part of my designs are the concepts that go into them. I aim to explore the weird and wonderful aspects of life and look to have a laugh during low or serious moments.
Take my recent capsule collection, for example, it was titled “Behind Closed Doors” and the concept was bathrooms. I explored the different cultures that exist within the bathroom, specifically five cultures: the high school, the toddler, the homeless, the posh, and the drug/rave culture. I interpreted the concept through very wearable and recognizable silhouettes, and utilized prints to bring the clothes to life. I featured a polka-dot-esque print using toilet seats, I created a repeat pattern of colored toilet paper, and I put an artistically taken photograph of a toilet flush on the entire front and back of an oversized T-shirt.
I am a designer who strongly believes in bringing humanity back into fashion, and it is through these weird and wonderful concepts I aim to do that. We often take life too seriously, we need to learn to laugh at ourselves, at life’s funny ways of working – living isn’t so bad, and when we learn to laugh, we learn to live.
Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
Women have so many opportunities these days, now more than ever, and I more often find that our male counter-parts are slighted over us. There has never been a better time than now to take chances, risks and push yourself – we have so much available to us.
I have an unpopular opinion, but I believe that if you work hard enough, portray the right talent and really push yourself and those around you, it doesn’t matter what gender you are or what you look like – you can make your own name, your own life, and achieve your own greatness. Don’t look for a reason as to why you weren’t hired, or why you feel you aren’t being given equal opportunities – if they aren’t being equal, do you even want to work for them? As I said before, believe in yourself, and believe in your brand!
Pricing:
- Collage Print Puffer Coat: $3,000.00
- Toilet Flush Long, Over-sized Tee: $300.00
- Toilet Paper Cropped Tee: $150.00
- Graffiti Patchwork Cropped Tee: $200.00
- Blue and Beige Collared Shirt with Raglan Sleeve: $120.00
- Beige Tie Skirt: $150.00
- Red and White Fine Houndstooth Bermuda Shorts: $150.00
- Bright Red Cropped Straight-leg Trouser: $175.00
Contact Info:
- Phone: +447825002028
- Email: annabradym@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamannabrady/
Image Credit:
Nathon Ruehl, @nathonruehl, www.nathonruehl.com, nathon.ruehl@gmail.com
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