EMERGING DESIGNER

Naira McMullen

IN THIS FEATURE: Meet Naira Fashion Focus

ake a pinch of Art, mix in a touch of Nature and blend well with Spirit, and you have the recipe for this exciting collection of original fashions designed on Earth, but made in Heaven. A deeply spiritual person concerned with humanity's well-being, Naira McMullen's greatest ambition is to have her designs reach a large enough audience, allowing her to make a difference in the lives of others. Wishing the name of her collection to reflect her spiritual side, she chose the name DiviNation.

Naira is a Fashion Designer born and raised in Armenia, who has studied design since the age of ten. She apprenticed with her grandmother as well as her great-grandmother, who were both highly skilled in the apparel arts. Naira recalls, "It all started when my grandmother first taught me how to crochet. My very first project was to crochet a pillow. Being only 9 or 10 years old, she was very proud of me. Then I made another one with more colors and different crosshead designs." She soon began getting sewing lessons from her grandmothers using both their sewing machines, one of which was manually operated (she had to spin the wheel by hand) and the second one was operated by using a foot pedal. For Naira's fourteenth birthday, she received her first electric sewing machine. That was when she began to use the skills she had been taught to start making her own clothing.

During her teenage years Naira's style was, and still is, very graphic and color intensive...sort of “dressy-casual”. People would often ask her to make clothes for them and she was frequently complimented for her fashion sense and style. While Naira’s grandmother was very technically skilled, she was somewhat "out of step" with the fashions of the time. Her parents decided to hire a private tutor to teach her how to design and create custom clothing. With the expert skills she learned from having professional tutoring, she went on to graduate from a fashion-related technical school in Armenia.

After graduating, Naira took a bold and courageous step and immigrated to America by herself at the age of 19. She did not speak English nor did she have any personal contacts. She was alone in a new country with only fifty dollars in her pocket. But she landed her first job very quickly at a tailoring shop which turned out to be a great personal and learning experience. "I worked and learned 'fit' and studied many key secrets from a master tailor. We worked together for 14 years. I loved my job. It was as if it were my own shop: I had my own key and complete freedom.. We had many wealthy customers that would bring in very high end pieces and I was fascinated working on them. Designers like Gaultier, Moschino, Issey Miyake, Armani, and Escada are just a few of the many I worked on," Naira recollects.

In the year 2000, she enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles and went on to graduate in 2002. At that point she officially entered the field of fashion utilizing her excellent analytical and technical skills. In reflecting on her journey, Naira shares, "it has always been my strongest belief that hard work plus persistence will result in success."