Jessica Rey X Dressember

Ladies! When I received an email from Dressember's founder, Blythe, asking if I'd design a dress for their 2018 collection, I was over the moon! Dressember has raised millions of dollars to bring awareness to the evils of sex trafficking. Did you know that 30 MILLION people are currently enslaved worldwide? People generally think that slavery is a thing of the past, but it's happening right now and quite possibly where you live. 68% of human trafficking is labor to support the things we use everyday, so you could be supporting slavery through clothing, tech, and other goods. Check out my interview with Dressember below and please consider signing up for the dress/tie challenge this year!

 

 

 

Jessica, this dress is incredibly comfortable yet chic. Tell us why you designed it the way that you did?

Whether I'm designing swimsuits or clothing for my own brand or 'The Jes' dress for Dressember, I always think about what will make women feel comfortable, confident, and beautiful no matter what their shape or size. It's also important to me that clothing isn't disposable, so I love designing timeless pieces that can be styled different ways and worn for years to come. I think my dress came out perfectly the way I imagined.

Everyone deserves to know and embrace their innate dignity. Unfortunately, that is a rarity today. Dressember helps to restore that dignity to people by helping to rescue women and also by partnering with Elegantees, who hires rescued women to make the dresses. Being a part of that mission -- giving something back to those who have been robbed of everything -- is very humbling for me. I am proud to be a part of this project.

We're humbled to have you be a part of it. Who is a woman in your life that inspires you?

My mom is my hero. She was a wonderful wife and mother and worked her entire life caring for women as a nurse until she was diagnosed with cancer (for the second time). She always put others before herself and showed me what true sacrifice really is. I may have been a superhero on tv, but she was a superhero in real life.

We noticed your "Estella" line was named after your mother. What a beautiful tribute! If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice, what would that be? 

You cannot be everything to everyone. At the beginning (and still now), I would get emails from customers, suggestions from friends and family and even strangers -- 'why don't you design this?' 'Why don't you design that?' 'Why don't you use this color or this print or this silhouette?' I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to please everybody. But that's not realistic nor is it how you create a successful business (or sleep peacefully at night). You cannot be everything to everybody in business or in life. 

Now to our final and favorite question. Something tells me this is going to be good -- What is the craziest thing you have done in a dress?

Well... on Power Rangers, I wore a dress so fighting evil and kicking bad guys' butts would be the craziest thing I've ever done in a dress. Sometimes (when not in the spandex Power Ranger costume) I also fought in my civilian clothes-- not quite a dress, but a skirt. My character was loving and sweet, but also a strong girl who fought for what was right.

"A strong girl who fought for what was right" -- okay, now we see why Jessica has her own action figure. She left us with a quote that really resonates with the work we do. She quoted Catherine of Siena who said: "Be who are meant to be and you will set the world ablaze." We hope "The Jes" will be a dress that makes you feel comfortable and confident in your own skin. 

 

 

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