Dorian Webster shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Dorian, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
I think that people have a perception that making clothes is easy and that anything can sell. We live in a time where fast fashion seems to be king and everyone has their own brand, but the truth is that the market has become so saturated and so predictable that everything out all looks the same.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Dorian Webster and I am the Creative Director and owner of Grand Avenue Clothing line. Grand Avenue is a brand that mixes high fashion and casual streetwear. My brand is without a doubt my actual fashion sense and through this I make a lot of 1 of 1 pieces that you quite literally won’t see anywhere else with any other brand. When I started the brand my first roadblock was what to name the brand? And the name Grand Avenue comes from the street that I grew up on, W Grand Avenue played such a pivotal part of my life and set forth so many things up holistically for me that it wasn’t just a street, that it had to be something more and something bigger than just a street but it had to be greater because it was greater to me. The next problem or roadblock became what would the brand actually look like? I started to look at what was in and draw out designs to what I thought and seen in stores, but tweaking it so that it was somewhat my design, but truly not me though. After many designs I looked at all of my designs and realized that it just didn’t look like Dorian, so I shifted my mindset and started creating from my own heart and my own foresight. Once I did that I literally started to see people turning their heads to see what I was doing and not just that, but I was ahead of the fashion trends and I would literally make something and months later now the style of the piece that I had made months prior was now turning itself into the “IT” factor in the fashion world. Now my roadblock is how do I effectively scale my brand to be at the level and stage that I know that it should be.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
I think that what truly breaks the bonds between people is the lack of empathy and humanity. We live in a time where we have so much access to anything and everything that anything and everything becomes too common. So common that our ability to empathise with a situation or person or even draw our humanity to the person is so far removed because everything has become too common. To restore bonds we have to first recognise that there is a problem with our empathy and humanity and then have the confidence and courage to properly address it in efforts to fix it.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
All the time! I regularly think at some point will I run out of ideas, or is this really something that people would like. In those moments I look back at what I have accomplished and those thoughts quickly dissipate.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes the public version of me is the real me. I am the same person no matter where I am or even who I am around. I firmly believe that a person who is true to themselves no matter where they find themselves placed at is a person who deeply respects themselves.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I could! I am the type of person that doesn’t look to be in the limelight. I am a person who actually much rather not have the recognition, now some recognition is good but I don’t seek it out !
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.grandavenue1042.com/
- Instagram: grandavenue1042
