One cold winter's night in 2013, I was sewing myself a summer dress (because that is completely logical, right?), and for the first time ever, I used the couture technique of setting my zipper in by hand.

And as I sat and hand-stitched my zipper, I wondered what might inspire someone to self-teach themselves to be a top-level designer.

How long would that take? And why would they do it?

Thus, the spark of an idea for The Friday Night Date Dress was born.