We sit down to chat with first time Kansas City Fashion Week designer, Jennifer Tierney, about what inspired her collection and her road to the runway.

Q: What got you into designing clothing?

A: I started with designing costumes, so that was sort of my initiation into it. Since I come from a professional dance career, everything I designed at first was for stage and costume based then that transitioned into active wear. I switched from designing gigantic pieces to tiny, all stretch items. As a designer and a dancer, I get excited for the show but really the excitement and passion was for making the clothing itself. I wanted to start designing things that people could workout in, essentially. From there, I’m going into creating a womenswear collection that I want to consist of everyday pieces.

Q: Do you design mostly dancewear?

A: I do a little bit of dancewear. I have a 200 student ballet academy and I also direct American Youth Ballet, so I was able to design a leotard for a 3 to 18-year-old age range. It took me a little while to find a design that would look right on every size. The leotard is now in production and available at my school. Creating activewear and women’s wear is my main focus.

Q: Where are you from?

A: Originally, Sacramento, California but now I live in Overland Park, Kansas.

Q: How long have you lived in Overland Park?

A: Since I moved here, I immediately felt at home. I’ve been living here for 15 years but I’ve lived all around the country. I moved to wherever my professional dance career took me. I’ve lived in Sacramento, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Milwaukee, and parts of South Carolina.

Q: So what drew you to Overland Park and the Kansas City area?

A. I had visited Kansas City once when I was dancing in Milwaukee and I fell in love with the city. It was during the summer, it was 103 degrees and miserable and everyone told me if I love Kansas City right now, then I’m gonna love it anytime. I’ve never seen so much art and culture surrounded by so much friendly support in any other city I’ve lived in. So when my California ID expired, I flew to Overland Park to get a Kansas ID while I was still living in San Francisco. I just decided, this is where I’m gonna live. I find so many people who are from here who go out and experience other cultures, find what inspires them, and then they bring that back with them. I feel the city is filled with a lot of creative people and people who are open with collaborating, which I feel really builds a community. I’ve lived in a lot of places and this city is a place that wants to create and a place artisans can flourish.

Q: What inspired your collection?

A: Since I have a theater background, everytime I design I have to create another world for the costumes. Even if I’m making something that can be more ready to wear, it has to first exist to support the world in which the collection would exist. This is only my second collection and for this one I wanted to do something vintage and distinctively feminine. The collection is based off the abstract idea of a vintage picnic standing up and walking down the runway. Each look is not supposed to be what you would wear to the picnic, however it is the actual picnic. I started with the idea of the picnic blanket actually having movement and from there I began patterning and I realized I needed more distinction between the looks. I wanted to find a way to capture the nostalgic feel of a picnic. I needed to find a way to make each piece of the collection distinctive to itself, which is why I sought inspiration in 50’s and 60’s fashion icons. I didn’t just want beautiful women, I wanted women who I felt radiated their personality through a picture. One of the women I found inspiration in was Katharine Hepburn. My favorite picture of her is one of her on a skateboard. She’s just this very serious, intelligent, and poised women but she has this quirk to her. Each piece is not something I think these women would wear, it is something I would design for her if she were to exist in this world I have created.

Q: What made you want to show a collection at Kansas Fashion Week?

A: Everything. I’ve been to KC Fashion Week a couple times and I started watching it really grow and become very interesting. Designers started to take more risks and I love to see that. I love putting a risk out there and bringing something to life that I have envisioned. You’re influenced by everything around you throughout your entire life. I enjoy being in be a space where we’re all puting stuff out there, it feels like either everyone is going to think this is strange or everyone is going to think this is genius. I really started to see the fashion community in Kansas City grow as I myself was growing as designer. I almost hit the floor when I got the email I was accepted to be in KC fashion week. I’ve been watching it for a while, but I’ve been designing as I say, under a rock. Which has been comfortable for me because I am self taught. It took me a little while before I really felt comfortable saying “here I am” and “here are my designs.”

Q: Did you have any struggles or obstacles while you were designing your collection?

A: I felt pretty good about this one. During the first collection I designed, I really figured out my design process. For my first collection, I started with this huge color palette and I was collaborating with other designers so we had a lot of ideas. I had all these ideas, all these clothes, and all these fabrics, but when it came down to it, it wasn’t going the right way and I had to start over and figure out what was going to work. I came off that collection June 9th and started designing the next June 10th. I didn’t stop. I stayed in the studio and kept going. I felt pretty confident the second time around.

Q: Describe your personal style.  

A: My style definitely has a vintage flair that I like to bring out through some of my favorite pieces.435 Magazine did a story about my wardrobe two years ago and they opened up the doors to my closet and they immediately noticed how colorful it is. I love thrifting, I love consignment and since I’ve lived in so many different cities, I have all these pieces from all over the country that never go out of style. They’re not fast fashion and they really last. A lot of my favorite pieces were my grandma’s. She’s French and I have pieces from her that are really unique. My style is sometimes just jeans and a t-shirt, but even then I like to upgrade my look with vintage, thrifted elements.

A. I had visited Kansas City once when I was dancing in Milwaukee and I fell in love with the city. It was during the summer, it was 103 degrees and miserable and everyone told me if I love Kansas City right now, then I’m gonna love it anytime. I’ve never seen so much art and culture surrounded by so much friendly support in any other city I’ve lived in. So when my California ID expired, I flew to Overland Park to get a Kansas ID while I was still living in San Francisco. I just decided, this is where I’m gonna live. I find so many people who are from here who go out and experience other cultures, find what inspires them, and then they bring that back with them. I feel the city is filled with a lot of creative people and people who are open with collaborating, which I feel really builds a community. I’ve lived in a lot of places and this city is a place that wants to create and a place artisans can flourish.

Q: What inspired your collection?

A: Since I have a theater background, everytime I design I have to create another world for the costumes. Even if I’m making something that can be more ready to wear, it has to first exist to support the world in which the collection would exist. This is only my second collection and for this one I wanted to do something vintage and distinctively feminine. The collection is based off the abstract idea of a vintage picnic standing up and walking down the runway. Each look is not supposed to be what you would wear to the picnic, however it is the actual picnic. I started with the idea of the picnic blanket actually having movement and from there I began patterning and I realized I needed more distinction between the looks. I wanted to find a way to capture the nostalgic feel of a picnic. I needed to find a way to make each piece of the collection distinctive to itself, which is why I sought inspiration in 50’s and 60’s fashion icons. I didn’t just want beautiful women, I wanted women who I felt radiated their personality through a picture. One of the women I found inspiration in was Katharine Hepburn. My favorite picture of her is one of her on a skateboard. She’s just this very serious, intelligent, and poised women but she has this quirk to her. Each piece is not something I think these women would wear, it is something I would design for her if she were to exist in this world I have created.

Q: What made you want to show a collection at Kansas Fashion Week?

A: Everything. I’ve been to KC Fashion Week a couple times and I started watching it really grow and become very interesting. Designers started to take more risks and I love to see that. I love putting a risk out there and bringing something to life that I have envisioned. You’re influenced by everything around you throughout your entire life. I enjoy being in be a space where we’re all puting stuff out there, it feels like either everyone is going to think this is strange or everyone is going to think this is genius. I really started to see the fashion community in Kansas City grow as I myself was growing as designer. I almost hit the floor when I got the email I was accepted to be in KC fashion week. I’ve been watching it for a while, but I’ve been designing as I say, under a rock. Which has been comfortable for me because I am self taught. It took me a little while before I really felt comfortable saying “here I am” and “here are my designs.”

Q: Did you have any struggles or obstacles while you were designing your collection?

A: I felt pretty good about this one. During the first collection I designed, I really figured out my design process. For my first collection, I started with this huge color palette and I was collaborating with other designers so we had a lot of ideas. I had all these ideas, all these clothes, and all these fabrics, but when it came down to it, it wasn’t going the right way and I had to start over and figure out what was going to work. I came off that collection June 9th and started designing the next June 10th. I didn’t stop. I stayed in the studio and kept going. I felt pretty confident the second time around.

Q: Describe your personal style.  

A: My style definitely has a vintage flair that I like to bring out through some of my favorite pieces.435 Magazine did a story about my wardrobe two years ago and they opened up the doors to my closet and they immediately noticed how colorful it is. I love thrifting, I love consignment and since I’ve lived in so many different cities, I have all these pieces from all over the country that never go out of style. They’re not fast fashion and they really last. A lot of my favorite pieces were my grandma’s. She’s French and I have pieces from her that are really unique. My style is sometimes just jeans and a t-shirt, but even then I like to upgrade my look with vintage, thrifted elements.