Written by Katie Chandler 

Visuals by Tatum Nelson 

“Christian, Glam, Rock” a simple way fashion design major, Alyssa Canon, describes her senior collection. Despite only learning how to sew three years ago, Alyssa is the lead designer behind “In God We Trust.” 

“I saw an inspiration board that said, In God We Trust, and I really liked the look of it.” said Ayssa. “The font and everything is kind of a little Gothic, but I wanted to take a glam spin on it.”

Inspired by outfits from Riley Clemens and music from her trip to Winter Jam, a Chirstian music tour, the collection features five outfits. The collection is complete with handmade details like flowers made from gonza then burned over a candle, homemade jewelry, and hand stitched zippers as well as a made-from-scratch fringe skirt that was created after the original fabric wasn't up to par. 

“I literally went to Tandy Leather, and bought a metallic silver hide, and I bought a fringe template and then a rotary cutter, and I literally cut it into strips and fringed it myself, and then sewed it on the skirt.”

Designing an entire collection isn't easy and through this experience family and faith became an even stronger support for the designer. 

 “It's hard to connect faith to [fashion]. It's such a secular world, and it's been very challenging... I think my backbone through that has been Christian campus house, because I have had that faith part and then I come here, and then, I can carry that faith with me.”

While being a part of Christian Campus house has given Alyssa a home away from home, her actual home has been just as an important step in her design journey. While COVID precautions kept her away from the studio, she relied on a dress form from her grandma to master draping and her dad helping her create a basement studio to work through winter break. 

“It was freezing cold down there all the time, and then it smelled gross but we made it work,” Alyssa said while laughing. 

While reflecting on the long nights spent staying up sewing and stitching, Alyssa talked about the moment when it all set in that the process was real. One of the final steps the designers at MSU go through is jury where they present the vision of their collection.

“One of the jurors reached out to me on Instagram and was like, good job, all your hard work paid off. I really loved your collection. And so I think that's when it hit me like I have a collection and it's actually good” 

After graduating this semester, Ayssa plans to work in merchandising or design before opening up her dream business of a Christian based business of her own. This experience has allowed her to reflect on who she is as a designer and her process. 

“Oftentimes, I'm down on myself, and I'm a perfectionist so I see every single thing wrong, but I have to step back for a minute and be like wow, I created this, this is not something to take lightly, it's something I can be proud of.”

To see more of Alyssa's collection follow @ingodwetrust.collection on instagram.