Last Spring, I decided to do a short profile piece for A-Line Magazine on campus. The profile was on Makoto Takada, a talented fashion designer who, after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology and winning a competition, was determined to make a name for himself in the fashion industry. The article is here. I remember it being really awesome because I was only supposed to gather bits of information based on what I could find online but there wasn't much. So instead, I searched him on Facebook, found him and messaged him. He got back to me almost immediately, eager to do a phone interview. He was extremely nice and super talented and it was just a pleasant surprise to be able to interview him since I wasn't expecting to. A couple of months later, I sent him the issue when it came out and he seemed to genuinely like the piece, which pleased me.

Anyway, to the point. I decided to send him an e-mail a few days ago to follow up and see how he was doing. Turns out, he is now the Associate Designer for up and coming fashion label, Thakoon. (The label has been profiled a few times by major magazines; Michelle Obama wore a Thakoon dress to the Democratic National Convention in 2008). Last time I spoke to Takada he was still working as a pattern maker and trying to figure out where he wanted to go next and how he would do so - so to learn that a year later he's quickly moving forward and loving it is really inspiring. He's prepping for Fashion Week with the label's Fall '10 line. How exciting! It makes me so happy to see the transformation from dreamer to a dream come true.

Just thought I'd share. :)