In my studio hangs a question: What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?
If I could not fail, I would wrap you in a fabric so rendered to your spirit that it would free you from expectations. You would step into your becoming like a star being born and in so doing you would unleash the power in other women to raise their heads and look into their future Capable Powerful and Wise.
So from this thought and dream Unabashed apparel is born. I am not interested in the fanciest dresses, or superfluous details. I do not want to create art that shouts or gains all attention to itself. I want to nurture the unabashed part in women. I want to create clothes that enhance and inspire freedom. To rid a garment of all details other than charm and purpose. I want my clothes to enfold women and, due to their talent and beauty, to meld into art and if along the way you host a dinner party and then go lobby congress, then I've done my job.
Sarahbeth Larrimore
Sarahbeth is the designer and operator of Unabashed apparel. With her gaggle of great women, she's settin' out to change the world, one dress at a time. A creative whirlwind, designing pieces of clothing that fit her fantasy of simple and charming, she fully expects her clothing line to create a reaction that starts small and ends with a "whole bunch of" confident and unabashed women. She sat on the floor of her grandmother's sewing rooms from her earliest memories. Years later she started sewing on her own. She used hand-me-down Singers, smoking electrical cords and all. While sewing interested her, it was apparel design that she found she was returning to over and over. After being bullied into a beginner's costume design class by her dear friend Jean, a little bird sat on her shoulder and whistled a tune she didn't piece together until years later. The song is still unfolding...
To get a dream to come alive - it always takes a village. There are hundreds of people that have given feedback, inspired me and given support - but I'll list the couple without whom I'm not sure I would have made it farther than - gee I like fabric.
Katy Guertin
She's my muse, my partner in crime and business idea guru. Katy is one of those people who say, "Okay, we'll get it done." -even if you have just told her you're going to build your own spaceship out of gingham and fly to one of Jupiter's moons. And you really truly believe her. And more astounding than that, you find yourself collecting enough gingham to start on a wing or two. Y'all will find her answering emails and putting her cheek into Unabashed apparel. She is our political conscience and also our queen of humor. With that combination, she was born to be my right arm kid.
Jean Shepard
When Jean isn't painting 8 foot tall naked cowgirls, or knitting up a storm, or giving advice better than peaches, she's a website designer, an accomplished and award winning artist, a beautiful inspiring -most reliable and a tad bit naughty fairy godmother, and a lifelong supportive friend. Thank Jean for the lack of all crazy and over the top designs I come up with when I've had too much coffee, all I have to do is imagine her eyebrow raise and steady and eloquent stare and I innately know, "surely not."
Applewood
Well actually, Ashley's last name is Fleetwood, but I thought it was Applewood for so long that it stuck. Applewood is a spitfire. From every one of my friends I am inspired by some part of their spirit - I use that part in my design process - Ashley supplied the much needed edge, the bit that pulls on the boots and says what she's thinking out loud, definingly. Ashley is a research fiend and has made many a new friend figuring out how to go about things by the seat of our pants. She's the unbudgeable critic even when I'm at that point that I'm screaming, "What the hell now, it's done! It may be ugly as sin, but it's done!" And for her persistence, though not always on that day, I am more than grateful.
Pingora's Vega Lux
We all need comic relief - my Rhodesian Ridgeback keeps my mind off all the work I have before me to worry about what fabric she's gnawin' on, what studio floor that she's ripping, what cat she's fitting into her mouth and whether or not she's taken a toodle under my sewing table. Vega has deepened my sense of humor and helped me to see the silver lining in things I thought only black clouds. Like the linoleum that was the kitchen floor...
There are tons more of people that have helped me on this great journey, my grandmothers and godmother that originally inspired me in the art of fabric manipulation. My moma, who has never doubted me, even when I doubted myself, my daddy who along side my brother put the floor down in the upstairs of my house so the studio could exist, and many other friends. I could write a page on everyone. Look for them as models for Unabashed apparel. It's the women I know that inspire me.