Looking down on Fashion?

Sachini wearing a white top outside

Looking down on Fashion? Yes. It happens. It happens to me few times a month. People look down on what I do, namely creating a luxury clothing line and running a Fashion and LifeStyle Blog. As some of you may know that I come from a Financial tech background. I used to be a full-time Project Manager for various different financial institutions, a job that I still do 2 days a week. But have mainly moved on to my dream career of designing my own clothing line and providing styling services. I count myself so fortunate to be able to do it almost full time given I am not even a year old in this industry. However, the world tells me differently.

As time goes on more and more of my Financial or IT clients come across my blog or see me on Instagram or Youtube and they tell me that they are surprised, even shocked. They ask me “What on earth are you doing?” Some people even go to the extent of telling me that “Good God Sachini, You are a bright girl, What are you doing in fashion? ” and I am speechless with horror and disbelief of how far we have come as the human race, yet how narrow -minded and plain insulting people can be. Apparently, fashion designing or blogging has been thought to be “a career for the less clever and also it is super easy”.

So let me tell you, as a complete newcomer to this industry, who had no fancy contacts to start with, not being a public personality, being in fashion, surviving in one of the world’s most competitive industries is very much hard work. It requires so much dedication I never thought I had before I started my luxury brand, Sachini and I have never worked longer hours since I started my business and my blog.

Not only you have to be hardworking and creative, you also have to work smarter and faster. The market moves so quick and as a wealthy luxury consumer, the world is your oyster, so all the luxury brands are always on their toes providing one of the most demanding services in the world.

So the only reason the people look down upon us is due to the pure lack of knowledge on what is going on behind the world’s most glamorous brands and blogs. It is ignorance and envy. Yes, I meant envy.

I also think creative industries are broadly associated with the myth of non-intellectual. But I assume that is when the person who makes this judgment himself/herself does not know the real meaning of intellect. But fashion is exactly a faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively, especially with regard to abstract matters.

Aside from the craftsmanship, aside from the creativity and the handwork we all put in, at the end of the day, for most of us, it is also our business, it is how we make a living. So to be successful, we need to run it like a business and that is a great skill set to have for anyone who wants to reach the top of any industry. Well, if that is not smart, I do not know what is.

I often am so thankful for my years of experience as a Project Manager in the banking sector as I use that skill set in my fashion business. I am surprised how often I use the same techniques and solutions as I did to doing the business planning, financial budgeting and most importantly people management and communication. In fact, I do believe that when moving from one career to another, you only gain, not loose. You bring so much more new skills to the table from your old job and you wonder how valuable those skills are.

So the intellect or the smart factor does not have an industry limit. I have met one of the smartest people in my life in the fashion industry as well as in financial Industry. Be it IT, Fashion, Television, Banking or any other industry in 21st century, there are always people who succeed and who doesn’t. What it takes is, to be passionate, work harder and smarter!

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