Where do I even start?

I started Dark Thorn Clothing because it was an outlet to be creative, show my side, express who I am and what I love. Living in the country it's hard to get your hands on clothing of this style and I thought, surely I'm not the only one?

Ever since i was little I would tell mum off for trying to dress me in outfits i didn't like, the amount of arguments that went down because i wanted to wear my orange plastic High 5 skirt everywhere (I'm not even joking on that one) that mum just ended up letting me go and letting me wear whatever I wanted (well probably not quite, otherwise I would have ended up with one pink, one purple shoe, my plastic orange skirt and a green singlet.. I thought i had great style back then). I would sit up with my little drawing books and 'try' and draw clothing designs (I might actually try and find some of those for amusement) and every time we came home from the shops i would pull out all of the clothes and pretend to be a retail cashier. Adding the prices together, folding up the clothes, pretending someone was buying them and then i'd repeat it until I got too tired.

My nana is a dressmaker, my grandma is a pattern maker and my mother use to make beautiful smocked baby-children's dresses as well as a lot of patch work so to say fashion, design and sewing is in my blood would be an understatement.

I began Dark Thorn Clothing in mid 2013 at the age of 18. I had always dreamt of starting my own clothing label but living in the country i never thought it could be possible. Being remote, not knowing where to start or if you could even study fashion courses (I honestly had no idea, I also didn't know you could study two things at once..). I use to draw a lot and began printing some of the drawings onto t-shirts and selling them relatively cheap on Etsy. I started to branch off and began making some skirts, shorts, tops (which some are still currently available online at clearance prices, click HERE to check it out) and then it came to more elaborate designs along with a high volume of orders that i just couldn't keep up. I knew in this moment i had to change Dark Thorn Clothing into everything i wanted it to be. Designer pieces all in the styles i liked to design, no more designing for what the majority, mainstream, consumer wanted. This is where Rebirth began.

I'd be lying if i didn't say it has cost an arm and a leg, a lot of hours spent and long nights working, researching and studying, flying here and there, tonnes of emails and phone calls, 1000000 cups of coffee, tears, sacrifices, laughter, happiness, it's been hard work to get Dark Thorn Clothing started but its been worth every tear, every smile, every cent, every book read and every cup of coffee to be on my journey and working on everything I've ever wanted to do.

Hop aboard my carriage, come on this journey with me. Country girl with high dreams meets fashion design.

Tori-Anne Gill
xx