The Fashion Theory Lab

The Fashion Theory Lab is a fashion education website and blog. Yes! We will talk about fashions, styles, colors, and trends and apply all those elements to personal and street style. But, my love for fashion is also about fashion theory, the what, why, how and where, of all things fashions.

What… what kind of materials are used to make fashion and accessories?

Why… why do we wear clothes?

How… how does the fashion industry work, and how can I become apart of it?

Where… where is the fashion industry and how can I find my place in it.

My goal here is to help you! I want to help you figure out what you want to do in fashion that will lead you down a path to the career in fashion you want.

About Patricia

Hi guys, I am owner, educational and creative director of The Fashion Theory Lab.

Fashion is beautiful. I’m a lover of all things fashion. I’m a fashion educator, coach, and entrepreneur.

Yes!  I’m a southern girl. The “hello y’all!” gives me away every time. I was born and raised in the city known to some as the Space Capital of the World. My hometown is also home to Redstone Arsenal -the center of the US Army’s missile and rocket program, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center  -where they design and build the engines, vehicles, and space systems for America’s space program. The Space & Rocket Center a government ran museum showcasing rockets, and other artifacts of the U.S. space program, and Space Camp –a camp that inspires and motivates children from around the world who are interested in space. We are all right here in Huntsville, Alabama. I love fashion, my city and my life here.  Huntsville is not a fashion industry town, but I found a way to do the work I love. You can too!

I’m just like many of you, I wanted to work in fashion, but I wasn’t sure where to start. So, I started where others who may have wanted a career in fashion started. I went to college and got an associate, B.S. and M.S. degrees in Retail Merchandising and Apparel, Merchandising and Design. I got off the college train with a J.D. (law degree). I believe in education and it is strictly up to you decided how much formal education you want or need. No, I didn’t need all of that formal education, but there was no one to help me figure it all out.  

I’ve spent most of my career in the fashion industry. On a couple of occasions I’ve worked in other industries only to realize that fashion is where I belonged; fashion called me each time I left to do something else. I spent more than 10 years at the retail level working for a number of different fashion brands in fashion merchandising and 17 years teaching Apparel, Merchandising and Design at the college level. Now, I’m a retired assistant professor and fashion entrepreneur.