Christina Walton

Creating My Happiness

As a five year old, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a fashion designer when I grew up. I have no idea where this far-fetched idea came from, as both my parents worked in Law and had no real interest in clothes, outside of ensuring Dad's work shirts were ironed properly for the day. If I think back, really hard, this probably stemmed from my obsession with Barbie dolls, despite being a quite short and tubby brown-haired, pale-skinned English girl. Who taught me the word "designer", we'll never know. All I know is that it became an obsession, from drawing outfits on every scrap of paper I could get my hands on, to endlessly observing every seam on every garment I came near and working out, in my mind, the shapes I thought made these clothes. In one memory, I distinctly remember creating a small, red velvet two piece from a pair of old burgundy velvet curtains, with a hexagonal pearl and metal button sewn on the front. As I pulled it on to one of my favourite dolls, I felt that this pathway of creation was just meant for me.