Arts & Communications: Fashion Designer
Arts & Communications
Fashion Designer:
Chelsea Gines
by Brian McInnis
Chelsea Gines, an 18-year-old swimsuit designer with the Pink C design company, knew exactly what she wanted to do right from the get go — and didn't let anyone hold her back.
In The Blood
Chelsea seemed to have a thing for design, even as a child in elementary school. "I won lots of designing contests and I think when I turned 15 I wanted to make my own clothes," she says. It was a natural career choice for her — her mother, JoDee owns Pink C, and Chelsea became the "right-hand girl" of the company in 2001. "(My mom's) been in the fashion business her whole life. I got started in fashion because of her. She's given me that different, edgy style." Chelsea takes pride in the fact that since there's only one Pink C in the world, it would be very rare for a person wearing one of their designs to see a matching outfit anywhere.
What It Takes
Gines knows her profession is not for those who mind getting their feelings hurt or for the faint of heart. "You have to have a lot of faith, first of all, because not everyone's going to like what you're making. You have to be really strong-minded because it takes a lot of patience. You have to work really hard at it, you have to know the right people, and you just have to make the right friends."
The Right Stuff
Chelsea is now partnered up with Pualani designs to help market her merchandise. She says she's fortunate to have fallen in with a reliable brand name — her designs will appear in Australia, Japan, and other places worldwide.
Travel is definitely part of the job. Now, she intends to focus her efforts on Los Angeles and establish a strong sales base there. She also flew to Europe — even though she's not too fond of travel — to handpick her fabrics and embellishments for her own designs.
"I'm so fortunate to be working with Pualani. They have such a reputation for their great bikinis and their fabric and their quality is what makes their company."
For The People
She says one of her most difficult challenges is the constant battle between her own tastes and that of everybody else. Keeping a pulse on what the public wants is an essential part of the job. "I do all my own graphics, I put my own catalogs together. A lot of people like to hire graphic design teams, but I like to do it myself because I can design it exactly the way I want it. I think the hardest part for me is designing things not just for me and what I like, but also what the customers want, and trying to mix the two together."
A "Business Opportunity"
"High school (at Kapolei) was the biggest challenge of my life, just because I was so different from everybody. I'd be designing in class, sketching in class, and the teachers wouldn't understand." Gines ended up transferring to an Internet school her senior year and got her diploma that way. She concedes that traditional high school provided her with valuable knowledge of her peers. "I think school helped me because I got up to speed with what all the consumers were like. These are the people who are going to be in my group when I'm selling (designs) and it's good to know what these people are like. I took high school as more of a business opportunity. I took Japanese for three years and graphics communications for four, and those really helped me in the fashion industry."
Local Style?
"I actually don't spend much time going (on trips) because most of the things I do are based out of Hawaii, and I spend as little time overseas just because I get my creativity here." Ironically, her designs aren't exactly traditional Hawaiian style.
"My design is basically a glamorous L.A./European look. I make the styles and the print more for girls who are more style focused. I wouldn't say it's Hawaiian at all. It's a Mainland kind of feel."
Stay Confident
Gines has some words of wisdom for people who are considering a career in fashion design.
"If anyone's interested in designing, stick with it, I know it's hard when people don't agree with your designs, or don't like what you're doing. But if you like it, and it's different, and you know what you're doing, you should stick with it. It'll happen if you want it hard enough."