Part 4

In the fall of 1998, I took another field trip—this time with the fashion department at SAIC—to New York City. It was my first time on an airplane, too. We visited alumna Cynthia Rowley, Mood Fabrics, M&J Trimming, and other iconic spots in the fashion district. I also had an interview lined up with a novelty sweater company—what I used to call “secretary sweaters” back in the ’80s. Today, we know them more affectionately as “ugly sweaters,” and they even have parties in their honor. That’s right—high fashion!

My classmates made so much fun of me, but I had student loans coming due and no other offers knocking at my door. So when I got the job, I took it. I moved to New York with nothing but a suitcase, broke and naïve. My parents came along to help me find a place to live and co-sign my lease. A broker found me an apartment in Riverdale, up in the North Bronx—super safe, a little dull, but it would do. My salary was laughably low—over half a month’s paycheck went to rent, and I stretched the rest as best I could. I stayed at the YWCA for two weeks while I waited for my apartment to be ready. My parents shipped my belongings in boxes, and just like that, I was officially a New Yorker. It was January 1999.

Every morning, I’d hop on the train at 231st Street and ride it down to Penn Station. From there, I’d walk to 7th Avenue in the heart of the fashion district. The commute took about an hour. Along the way, I’d grab my “New York breakfast”—a plain bagel with cream cheese and a 20oz Coke. Breakfast of champions. Honestly, I still believe NYC has the best bagels in the world.

The building where I worked had an elevator that took me up to the 38th floor. The reception area was bright and welcoming, painted in soft yellow tones. A white-lettered sign read Michael Simon. On the walls, vibrant sweater designs hung like art—flamingos, dogs, shoes—all brought to life in appliqué, beads, and sequins.

My workspace was just as cool. It was an open loft with huge windows and long tables for sketching and laying out sweater designs. Every single motif, bead, and embroidery stitch was hand-drawn and colored. We created life-size tissue overlays of the intarsia (knit-in patterns) for the factories. Each motif had to be precisely laid out on the sweater silhouette and shaded with Prismacolor pencils. We sent detailed instructions for every element—beads, sequins, felt, embroidery—with keys identifying each material, size, and color. Today, all of that would be done digitally, but back then, it was all manual. Pretty wild to think about now.

All the sweaters pictured above (except the adorable blue floral one) were either designed or executed by me. Designers would submit several ideas per season, and Michael would select his favorites. Often, I’d take a senior designer’s rough sketch and bring it to life. We had an incredibly talented woman on the team who specialized in embroidery and crochet—she could create 3D motifs and knew every stitch in existence.

The whole team was wildly talented and came from all over the world. A lot of SAIC alumni, too. Looking back, I don’t think I fully appreciated just how cool that job was. But now, it’s a memory I cherish.

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Looking back, that first job in New York was a crash course in both fashion and adulthood. It wasn’t glamorous by most standards—tight finances, long commutes, and hand-drawing every detail of a sweater—but it was rich with experience, creativity, and a team of incredibly talented people. At the time, I was too focused on making it work to appreciate how special it all was. But now, I see it as the beginning of everything: the leap that brought me to New York, the work that shaped my skills, and the memories that still make me smile.