Early on in my career, I got a dream gig on the design team at Diane von Furstenberg (and this coat at an employee sample sale). I was living in San Francisco and was offered the job over the phone — and within two weeks was reporting for duty in the design studio in the garment district (DVF’s famed office in the meatpacking district is the corporate office — the design studio still resides in the heart of the garment district in midtown). It was one of my first experiences really understanding that the (mostly) women who work in fashion are super, super smart — never confuse a love of artifice with a lack of substance. The design studio was an incredible think tank for self expression, and I learned something else I hope to carry with me for the rest of my career: the more confident you are as a designer, the more supporting you are of other designers. Have confidence in your own work, and then spread it around ❤️