I didn't have a clear vision of becoming a fashion designer and an entrepreneur when I was young, but dressing right and appropriately was always part of my upbringing. My mother, who is one of the most fashion conscious women I know, put me in charge from a very early age of selecting her wardrobe in the shops, choosing her outfits for important meetings, special occasions and holidays. Looking unique and one of kind was her fashion religion. It was always key for her that her look had to suit her, be comfortable to wear, fit the occasion and be appropriate in that moment to wear. She said anything else would not make her look like a fashion pro, but like a fashion amateur. Fashion is there to empower you and to bring the best version out of you and not to feed and expose your body weaknesses and insecurities. Therefore liking something is not reason enough to wear it. You need to know yourself and its rules first before you are ready to break them and start to play and have fun with fashion. Otherwise it will just do the opposite.". To this day she has a power wardrobe that reflects always her current her. So, I guess the skill set and knowledge was always there, but it took a few turns before I followed my fashion vision and put into action.
As a result I have always seen fashion very differently to most women. For me, fashion is a tool to look my best by dressing towards my body strengths rather than my body weaknesses. They are not are not miracle tools where everything and anything goes just because it is in fashion! This early experience combined with the difficulties finding a dress desk to dinner was the inspiration for my fashion label Michaela Jedinak.
"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before." Albert Einstein
I wanted to be one of the fashion pioneers who is creating, designing and selling fashion differently not going down the usual fashion path by designing collections for the fashion shows, create fashion that is short lived, doing wholesale or selling it through a physical store . I wanted to design dresses for senior business women - a market that is constantly overlooked, because fashion constantly focuses on day or party or weekend outfits that are not suitable and appropriate to wear to work. These women are constantly on the go, because they have a busy lifestyle and therefore they need a dress that fits it. Dresses that women can rely on 100% throughout the day, that allow them to move with ease and which make them feel confident, comfortable and reinforce their performance. To me the dressing code for work is: Professional, appropriate, comfortable and should make you not only look and feel good but as well strong. As result I am very passionate about empowering women to dress for their body shape and to discover their own style identity.
My inspiration comes from designers such as Coco Chanel who said: " Fashion is like architecture- it is a matter of proportions" and " In order to be irreplaceable one must always different" My design concept challenges traditional fashion rules as most designers only design for one idealised body shape. Dressing right for your body shape has nothing to do with plus sizes although people often confuse size with shape and fit with suitability.
We have as well our unique STYLE DNA and therefore all need a different dressing code to look our best. Dressing right takes simply strategy.
My mission is to empower all women to dress for success stop comparing themselves to others and playing the daily guessing game "does that look good on me. Even if you are as beautiful as Angelina Jolie, why do you want to look like her. You will be always a copy and never the original. It is such a negative outlook this constantly comparing.
Even if we share the same dress size it doesn't mean we can wear the same dress or the same dress will look good on all of us. There are an infinite number of physical features and each person has their own unique combination of these. Dressing right is all about creating visual balance in your look.
When it comes to looking good, it's not your size or shape that matters, it's the fit of your clothes. But fit doesn't equal suitability. Just because something is available in your size it is not guaranteed to deliver an attractive visual balance in your look. Also, we should not believe that a beautiful dress will make us look beautiful. It won't- but the style of a dress - no matter the brand or designer - will always make us look beautiful.
So, be your own fashion expert and lead from the front. Know yourself first - before you dress yourself. That's why I encourage them to invest in a quality timeless styles, rather than following every fashion trend that was not designed for their body shape in the first place! I believe there is a perfect dress for every woman- it is just not the same one.
Dressing with success is like doing business- you are focusing on your body strengths and not weaknesses and combine with what makes you unique- one of kind! Therefore I decided to design with women's body shape in mind. My vision was to design dresses that women love to wear over and over again. So, quality in fabric and English Craftsmanship was key for me. Also, I didn't want to hold stock and decided to focus on made to order, which gives room for customisations and creating unique dress designs a. My dresses are modern classics with a sense of fun. I love colour and to use colour it not only for expressing yourself but also to use it as tool for creating visual balance in a woman's body shape. It allows each wearer the opportunity to add their own style signature and personality by wearing the same dress in a different way. In order to embrace the diversity in women's body shape in full our label Michaela Jedinak has created more than 70 dresses to suit women's body shape. My dresses will bring out the most powerful version of yourself.
So, go your own way, as you shape the world we live in- and while you are doing make sure that the outside is the reflection of being your own fashion expert and the most powerful version of yourself. Be true to yourself and be brave and strong doing it your way by dressing in your very unique way. Set your aim for individuality rather aiming being a bad copy of someone else.