Today we’d like to introduce you to April Spring Powell.
Hi April Spring, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Although I grew up watching my mom sew costumes and outfits for my siblings and I, including those I would design for myself, I understood the impracticality of ever growing up to be a designer. It was a thought that would spark my mind but quickly extinguished by reality. Reality back then was growing up in a single parent, 5 kid home, getting by on small clothing repair jobs. It’s just what my mom did for survival as well as fun. It got us through. I went to college thinking I would major in Biology, but quickly discovered I was an artist in denial. I graduated with a BFA from BYU-Hawaii, got married a year later, moved to Italy for 2 years, moved back to the US and had the privilege of my first pregnancy with my first baby girl. During that pregnancy I decided to get a certificate in fashion design. It was something my mom and I decided to do together, just for fun. I had up to this point designed countless outfits. For graduation, for engagement pictures, my beautiful wedding dress and then for pregnancy photos. I didn’t just want the dress for these life events, I wanted the whole look captured by the lens. Something to look back to as life moved forward. And of course after the birth of baby girl #1 there were outfits and costumes to be made and captured as she grew up. Then baby girl #2 came along with dresses and costumes to be captured there as well. Upon moving to Kansas City, my girls and I (and husband) stumbled upon modeling completely unexpectedly (random story!). We got hired by companies like Hallmark a couple of times, T-Mobile and Vibrant Health. We had so much fun doing these jobs so naturally modeling gigs were on the radar. In comes the casting call for Kansas City Fashion Week. We show up to what I believed would be another fun little adventure we would try as a family. We did the audition and at some point I realize, they have also opened applications to designers. Up til this point I had never really considered myself a designer. I was a mom, an artist and most recently, a model. I read the details of the application and requirements just out of curiosity. It’s not like I had any real experience designing fashion… Or had I? I had a couple years prior competed in a Trashion Fashion competion in Texas and lost. Other than that, nothing official. The more I read about the qualifications/requirements the more I realized just how many of those blanks I could actually fill. I questioned and doubted my thoughts. Keeping it to myself before saying it out loud to my husband and then my mom. They too questioned whether this was suitable for me, a girl who had only ever designed for herself and her kids, just for fun, just for the pictures. I wondered if this could be my next little adventure. Wondering if I could really pull off a whole collection. Wondering if I should invest in something I had only ever done as a hobby. Wondering if I could pull together a concept, sketches and photos of my previous work quickly and professionally enough to peak the interest of the KCFW team. I didn’t know, but I decided to try. A year later I find myself at age 39, homeschooling mother of 2, mother of a new baby, 4 runway shows deep and nominated for “Designer of the Year” for Kansas City Fashion Week. In the span of the last year I had my very first runway show, spending the entire summer sewing and preparing an entire collection to show for the Fall/Winter 2024 season. I got pregnant soon after that first show and spent all winter, pregnant and nauseously preparing for the Spring/Summer 2025 season. This time showing at Omaha Fashion week as well as KC Fashion Week. I then spent this past summer very pregnant and once again preparing for the Fall/Winter 2025 show, but not before having my third little girl in my arms two months before hitting the runway again. It was a lot in one year and this without including all of my very full personal life as a mom and wife happening along side it all. Despite all the busy, I truly enjoyed the past year. The growth I have seen in my belief in self, my talent, my family and my ability to learn how to balance work and life all came together in one year of life.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I can definitely say it was not the smoothest road considering that 3 of the 4 shows were prepared for during the nauseous first trimester of my latest pregnancy or during the very large and uncomfortable third trimester of said pregnancy. Let’s not forget 2 months postpartum with a sweet little baby! Momming fulltime, designing and sewing part time and doing it from home ALL the time also had its challenges.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a multi-dimensional artist, currently focusing on fashion design. I graduated with a BFA with an emphasis in oil painting. I also have a certificate in fashion design. I am currently a designer for Kansas City Fashion Week, nominated for Designer of the Year. Although my life is not sufficiently flexible to accept such invites, I am proud of the many invites I have received in the last year to design for other Fashion Week production teams around the country and Europe. However, I am most proud of my personal growth. When you’ve spent the last decade primarily in mom mode, it can be easy to push aside your talents or the time it takes to hone those skills until you are given a reason to. But the crowning joy in doing what I am currently focusing on in this Fashion Designer journey is the appreciation for my work that I have received from those experiencing my designs season after season. As an artist, you create the exciting things your mind inspires and to have those creations validated magnifies the excitement you previously enjoyed on your own. What sets me apart in my current creative practice is my purpose. I don’t currently design to manufacture and sell my designs. I create as an artist, to entertain and inspire first, and create by commission second.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
As a designer, I don’t believe I am sufficiently informed in how the fashion world works to say where the industry can goes however, the way I see many practice fashion and style today tells me that as a fashionable society, we will explore a lot more self expression through DIY fashion and second hand expression of previously owned items of clothing. The more connected we find ourselves through globalization the more aware we are that many of us are eager to make our unique imprint in the fashion world by curating personalized ensembles of how we want the world to experience us. I believe that like the excitement of watching a new collection of a favorite designer on a runway show, seeing the journey of a uniquely styled look or a DIY’d outfit via self proclaimed stylists or designer/individuals on social media is just as exciting.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/april_spring_powell_atelier/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/April-Spring-Powell/100090199543590/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AprilSpringPowell/videos
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/april-spring-powell
