MIDDLETOWN >> Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Reisman was going to school to get a degree in business when his life suddenly changed.
According to Reisman, of Middletown, he was attending Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic when in his junior year, his interest in clothing grew.
“After I graduated, I began to pursue the fashion aspect,” Reisman said. “I went to a Groupon class at Stamford Brown. It’s pretty much a completely new world for me.”
Reisman said although he’s always been interested in fashion and in fashion magazines along with the trends, he began getting more hands-on experience with fabric and design when becoming the tailor for Best Cleaners in Middletown.
On his 21st birthday, Reisman was gifted a professional camera by his mother and twin sister, which lead to an interest in fashion based photography. After some time of photographing his friends around his college campus, Reisman shortly realized his passion lied within the cloths themselves rather than the captured images. In 2010 Reisman began to educate himself on methods of sewing and garment construction.
He’s got a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise $1,000 — he’s already gotten $240 in donations.
“My only experience prior was home economics in middle school,” Reisman said. “I started getting into self-teaching with YouTube and researching.”
Reisman started construction and basic introduction classes, eventually creating his signature style of sophisticated evening wear for women.
“It’s about sophistication with conservative sex appeal,” Reisman said. “You don’t want to put it all out there, but you definitely make it interesting and appealing.”
Reisman volunteered with the New York Mercedes Benz Fashion Week working with lines such as Naheem Khan and Nautica. He also has shown his clothes with local groups such as the annual Wear What You Fear put on by Hot 93.7-FM’s Ricky Trendy along with AIDS Connecticut’s We Can fundraiser in Hartford where Project Runway’s Mondo Guerra served as a guest judge.
In June, Reisman completed his very first solo fashion show.
“I did it as a way to separate myself from local shows,” Reisman said. “I started from nothing and booked my own venue, did the decorating, got models and paid for makeup and hair.”
Reisman said in many local shows, the models, venue, hair and makeup are already done. That added an extra challenge to hosting his own fashion show.
“I got a lot of positive feedback,” Reisman said. “There was about 200 people there.”
One of the biggest challenges Reisman said he faced was that since he didn’t go to school for fashion, he’s missing a lot of the valuable fashion connections that he now needs to make.
“Fashion is about who you know and who you’ve worked for,” Reisman said. “It’s hard to get a foot in. I’m tailoring now, but I want to work for an established brand and learn the ropes then branch off on my own.”
Although he’s starting from the ground up and it’s been stressful, Reisman said he’s enjoying the experience.
“I’m still young and having fun and trying to enjoy the moment of it all,” Reisman said.
Follow him on Twitter at http://ift.tt/1AgRLBT and check out his collection at http://ift.tt/1rRShkP.
CORRECTION
A previous version of this article stated Reisman interned with Fashion Week, however he was a volunteer.
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