From the Rez to the Runway by Christian Allaire
Christian Allaire still says he is just a kid from the rez. A remarkably short time later, he is a senior fashion and style writer for Vogue magazine. From the Rez to the Runway is his memoir, written at an age when most of us have just started our careers. His breezy style, sprinkled with current jargon, sweeps the reader along in what feels like a rollicky story, even when times are difficult.
Young people are told to find their passion and pursue it. Christian Allaire’s passion was high fashion, and he pursued fashion journalism with the ultimate goal of writing for the best – Vogue – and soon! When he was growing up in the Nipissing First Nation (Ojibway), he snuck his mother’s few fashion magazines into his bedroom so he could study the stylized photos and the fashion stories. As a teen, his TV viewing was Jeanne Beker’s Fashion Television. The perceived glamour and style of the fashion world buoyed him through the problems of school and the doldrums of journalism studies at Ryerson University.
By example, this memoir is a handbook of how to use unpaid internships to advance your career. Each summer during university, he strategically targeted an internship with increasing responsibility. His parents and his reservation supported him through the lean months, while he relentlessly did everything to increase his knowledge and his network. He shows how to work contacts to obtain better prospects. He shows how hard work on the right responsibilities gets the intern noticed. He has great ideas, and he shows how to pitch them.
Christian’s one blind-spot in fashion was his deliberate disregard for his roots. The ribbon shirts and beading were crafts his mother and aunties did. Not until he abandoned his first full-time job and returned home for a refresh did he recognize the beauty of the formal ensembles displayed at Ojibway events. The same dedication and creativity went into the finest work of Indigenous people as went into the most celebrated couture in New York. Christian had found his new wave of fashion, and New York took notice. Because he knows how to pitch an idea.
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