Life and Work with Hannah Washington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Washington.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Hannah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
So, my story in fashion doesn’t really begin until almost two years ago… before that, all throughout high school, I remember always remaking my clothes and being attracted to “different” clothes compared to what my friends were wearing, but not always branching out and wearing what I wanted to. To be honest, I think a lot of that was due to the lack of “creatives” around me and a lack of diversity. By diversity, I mean people from all different walks of life, rich and poor, people of different races, cultures, etc. I think being around people that are very different from you fuels creativity because we are meant to learn from each other. I also wasn’t around like-minded people until I went to college. Since 2014, year by year, I have been slowly exposed to so many kinds of people. The most since I moved into Atlanta in 2017. In the fall of 2017, I literally just woke up one day and put on a very unique, creative outfit unlike what I usually wear and got a ton of comments on it. After that, it just kept happening. It was like my fashion eyes were opened. From that point to all of 2018, I did fashion styling on and off and then finally started designing/reconstructing clothes in December of 2018 and that’s where I’m at today.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I assume you’re asking in regard to my career/passion pursuits. In my high school years & the beginning of college, I would say no. Strange, I always had a sense of what I wanted to do career-wise when I got older, unlike many of my peers. I think this “knowing” helped the road become smoother. I’m still very young and I’m sure much of my career struggle will come in the future when I can pursue fashion full-time, but thankfully I haven’t experienced any major ones so far. The struggles I can remember though would have been in 2018, knowing I had been called to something, was being led there, but couldn’t really tell where exactly. Like I had one piece of the puzzle, but couldn’t fit anything else together, so I kind of felt stuck and immobile for a while. Most of 2018, I styled for photographers constantly and created my own shoots to stretch my creativity and they seemed to get me nowhere. I made maybe $50 in styling for 2018. $50… needless to say, I started saying “Lord, did you really call me to this?” But in the fall of 2018, people kept asking me why I wasn’t designing clothes? So, at the end of December, I finally finished a jacket I waited to design for a year and it was worn by a friend and mentor of mine at one of the largest church conferences in the US. After that and things have seemed to take off.

My advice for women… mhm… coming from personal experience, I have three things. First, discover your uniqueness, the way that God made you. What makes you, you? Live in that. Be brave and be bold. Second, if you’re unsure of your passion, think about what wakes up in the morning… what keeps you up at night? Pursue that. OR if you don’t even know that, try everything. Literally. Try a few different things and remember you’re young. You have time. You can only find what you’re passionate about by getting out there and discovering the world. The third thing, and to me, the most important, find your “why.” Why do you want to do that thing? And then what is your goal? For me, my why is my driver. It wakes me up in the morning and keeps me up late at night. My why is simply to know Jesus and make Him known and I love fashion and design, so that’s what I use to express my why. So, find your why. I’m a follower of Jesus so I know my why can be totally different from most people. But everyone has one. Discover you. Be brave. Find your why.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Since the spring of 2018, I’ve been styling and creative directing photo shoots for all types of people, photographers, entrepreneurs and their brands, retail stores, and my own personal editorial shoots. I dabbled in blog writing for a little bit and did a little fashion critiquing you could say and fashion forecasting for my personal followers. I very quickly grew to be the go-to person for fashion advice on social media, in my church, and amongst my friends. Last year I finally started in design work, not from scratch (yet), but more reconstruction. I finished my first piece in time for my church’s conference on January 2nd where it was worn by a friend and mentor of mine. After that, I became known for design as well & have received a lot of interest for pieces. I would say I’m known as the “fashion icon” among my circle and on social media platforms.

I would say I’m most proud of my eye for people. Really seeing people where they are and noticing them and their needs. To me, building and maintaining relationships is SO important. Loving people well and not letting anyone go unnoticed. People crave community, relationship, and connection and I know that’s difficult in this growing technological age. My heart as I pursue this career is to give people that. Love them because of the way I was loved first.

I know my faith definitely sets me apart in this industry. The fashion world isn’t really known to have a lot of followers of Jesus in it to my knowledge. Just in the last few years have outspoken people that represent the church well, popped up; Jerry Lorenzo and Stylist J. Bolin to name a few.

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?
In my field specifically, women seem to be the most popular. Naturally, I think fashion and design will have more women in it and especially in Atlanta, I believe there is a very welcome attitude towards hiring women. I know in a lot of areas, women are definitely still looked at as the inferior sex and I’ve experienced a few times, but not often.

I think we are naturally going to be positioned for the careers that are paired with being female, like hair/makeup art, styling, fashion, design, jobs that involve children, teaching, etc.

Pricing:

• Clothing Design (jackets) $85
• Styling $25/hr

Contact Info:

• Email: hannahwashington84@gmail.com
• Instagram: hannah_washingtonn

Image Credit:
Matt Conrod, Connor Gillespie, Robert Keith

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