I got my graduation papers already in summer. Master of Arts – Fashion Studies. I was like whoah, now I’m officially a Master of Fashion. That felt good. On the other hand, there was not any ceremony like at the end of high school or university of applied sciences. I just picked the envelope from the mailbox, and that’s it. I have to admit that I was missing the glamour and sparkle a bit. Mom invited my whole family over for a graduation party when I visited Finland after receiving the papers. So yes, I got a little party. Just like I wished since I had already had one big graduation party three years earlier. However, the university’s graduation ceremony for all new masters who graduated during the spring term was kind of what I had been waiting for. I got my ceremony, and I got my diploma on the stage last Friday.
It was all the time clear to me that I would wear my own design at the ceremony. Any of my old ones didn’t feel perfect. I wanted to have something special since the occasion was going to be special. I got an idea of wide pants and a top. Here again, I wanted to design something that I would definitely use later again. I’m sure that pants + top combo will have more times of use than a fancy dress.
First I wanted to make the outfit of dark blue or dark green velvet. And just as a side note: for those who say: “it would be so nice to be able to make my own clothes, I could always do just exactly what I want .” etc., well it is rarely like that. When you have a clear vision but cannot find a suitable fabric.. well say hello to the plan B! I was in the fabric store three times looking for fabric. I even found a perfect one but there was like 1 meter left, so typical. But then on the third time, when I already had a pressure to buy something, since it was already Monday and the party was on Friday and the store was closing for that day, I found it. Light green-silverish micro sateen. Totally outside of the box. And guess what, I fell in love with that in the end.
I started preparing the outfit on Wednesday evening, sewed it basically on Thursday and finished on Friday morning. I’m used to leave everything on the last minute. It is super stressful, but I get things done anyway. This time I used old patterns which helped a bit. But I have to mention that when doing an outfit for my previous graduation ceremony three years ago, I finished sewing on the train on my way to the ceremony. So I’m used to this.
This time, I borrowed earrings from my sister and blazer from my friend to complete my outfit (unfortunately, I have no pictures with the blazer). Like I wrote on the last post: think if you really need to buy or could you maybe borrow? I didn’t want to buy those just for this one event and didn’t see that many other occasions for example for the blazer to use. Instead of buying, it felt good to borrow those pieces for one night, and I realised that I should do it more often.
Next time I’m going to wear the outfit in three weeks at my grandpa’s birthday party, maybe just styling it a bit differently. Furthermore, I can already imagine the top used with my new leather skirt I found from second hand, or with a pair of mom jeans. Pants are going to be great with a fluffy knitted sweater or with a basic white t-shirt next spring.
I really really like the outfit, but I was not the only one. When I was waiting for my coat and bag by the cloakroom after the ceremony, a woman came to compliment my outfit. When I told it is my own design, she said that she had thought about it, that it looked somehow so special and unique. You have no idea how much those words meant to me, for a young designer, coming from a stranger. A lot.
Photos: Roosa Laakkonen / edit: me
What do you think about my ceremony outfit?
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