On Becoming Visible
On Becoming Visible
Our model—a doula—had to deliver a baby the week of the shoot.
It was the only weekend my son would be out of town. My home was already set as the location. Two days blocked: one for the clothing on a body, another on hangers. We searched everywhere. No one fit.
I've spent a lifetime behind the camera. Safe there. Hidden there.
But I knew what this moment was asking of me.
Let go. Surrender. Trust.
I can only compare stepping in front of that camera to giving birth to my son.
After writing my master's thesis on c-sections, after years studying medicalized birth as a medical sociologist, I was gutted when my body required surgical intervention. I had wanted something different. I had prepared for something else.
But in the operating room, with my body open and trusting strangers to bring my son into the world, something unexpected happened. I surrendered. I trusted. And that birth became one of the most healing experiences of my life.
Modeling my collection asked for the same leap.
Trust my friends. Trust that they have my back. Trust that what you've created is worthy. Trust that you are worthy.
As corny as it sounds: I am the person I've always been searching for.
Here's what I know now: I want the best for myself without compromise. Not compromise to standards that were never made for me. Not compromise to an industry that has always asked me to shrink, to fit, to pass.
My healing and self-love are the foundation from which I offer my gifts.
This collection—designed for true comfort matched with grace, beauty, and ease—centers women and non-binary people above average height. People who fill a garment instead of being a hanger for clothing. Women who take up space by who they are. Who don't compromise integrity for fit. Who don't have to pass, but show up as their full selves.
She is not included. She is centered.
She wears her values on her body: ethical regional production, made artisanally in San Francisco and California, not mass-produced in factories with questionable conditions. Every fiber grown and raised in the US. Carbon beneficial. Regenerative. Organic. Hand plant-dyed.
I didn't create Herderin over a decade of design and craft to meet someone else's standard.
I created it for me.
And if you see yourself here—if you feel this in your bones—I made it for you too.
For women with depth. Integrity. Self-love. Embodiment.
For women who know: beauty is comfort. Comfort is beauty.
With love, Alix