First Clothing Line

Imagine a 7th grader with rainbow 🌈 braids and matching plastic clips, wearing a thrifted flowing, flower skirt and a tight little boys baseball shirt with combat boots and wild socks bouncing around the halls of middle school.

7th grade was a crazy year for me. I had a million friends and got my first job. I started doing drugs and getting into fights; sneaking out in the middle of the night, and having sex with boys that were too old…I hung out at Hot Topic, pinball arcades, the woods, and caves I probably shouldn’t have been in. I yelled at my mom too many times and flipped over desks in my math class. I skipped typing class and hid out in the school counselor’s office. I yelled at cops and huffed markers for a cheap high.

I remember the car ride to my first treatment center, I was so excited…not sure for what, probably just to get the f&@$ out of there. It was the year of the Hale-Bopp comet and all the treatment center kids would sit outside on wooden picnic tables smoking cigarettes and sharing ā€œwarā€ stories…and planning how to sneak into the boys wings later that night.

I liked going to AA meetings and talking to old men who wore their lifes’ pain on their face and had voices that were low and crass. I didn’t feel alone anymore and instead of people seeing me as ā€œdifferentā€; I had people look at me and say ā€œyup, me tooā€, ā€œI have those urges, I have those feelingsā€, ā€œI see your painā€.

I know it all sounds so romantic, for me it was. It all was my escape.

Seven lifetimes later, here I am. Almost unrecognizable from that little girl, yet she is still so apart of me. I’d like to go back in time and hold that little girl’s hand. I’d like to tell her that it’s all gonna work out. That her broken puzzle will find its missing pieces. That she’ll meet people that will help her heal. That she’ll have experiences that will blow her mind and that she’ll accomplish great things that are all her own!

I was gonna tell you that I’m launching a clothing line in a few weeks, but I thought you’d rather know why I was doing it.

Strey Designs capsule basics line coming Spring ā€˜22…

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