Julie Thomas

Keep Your Options and Mind Open

The ‘80s marked a milestone in my parents’ life. They graduated high school, they got married and they had their oldest daughter. But it wasn’t until 1988 that they received their best gift yet, me, Julie Thomas.

Born and raised in the large city of Houston, I grew up climbing trees, riding bikes and playing sports on the week days. When Friday hit, my family and I were on our way to Shreveport, La., for jet skiing, tubing, and water skiing. I was everything opposite of my older sister who was extremely girly; I was the tom-boy of the family. When I was in seventh grade, and my sister was in ninth, I began to look up to her in ways that I never had before. Watching her do her make up for school and style her hair inspired me to start doing the same thing. She was always dressed so properly, and I began to follow her examples. As I started to mature, I began to realize just how much I enjoyed the fashion world.

I played volley ball the majority of my childhood, from third grade until my junior year of high school. I quit because I knew I had no future there and I was ready to take my life a little bit more seriously. When I was a senior in high school, I finally started to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I met my most influential teacher yet, Mr. Abitua. He was the art teacher in my high school. I only took his class because it was an elective I had to take, but it ended up being so much more. He was inspirational in every aspect of his teaching. I discovered that the only way to combine my new love for art and my on-going love for fashion is to be an aspiring fashion designer. I had taken a few art classes outside of school in my spare time, but I never thought art would part of my future.

When I told my family about my plans, my parents said I always had a creative side. My mom pulled out an old sketch book that I had completely forgotten about, which she had kept. Then she pulled out a drawing that I vaguely remembered; it was a face that I drew and detailed with make-up. I joked with my mom when I saw it and told her I’d put that in my portfolio when I needed a job.

As I began applying to colleges I hadn’t considered LSU, but mainly art and fashion colleges in New York and California. Luckily, my parents talked me out of it because they thought it would be better for me to go to a school where I can change majors if I decided fashion design wasn’t where I wanted to be anymore. Sure enough, at the end of my freshman year of college I began questioning my major and if I was really cut out for it. Eventually, I changed my major from fashion design to fashion merchandising.

So why am I taking mass communication classes? Well, I started realizing that I had moved from just flipping through the pages of magazines and looking at pictures to constantly reading articles in the fashion magazines. I also find the way that top designers advertise their clothes very intriguing. I discovered that not only did I have a love for the clothes themselves, but for the way they are advertised and written about. When my parents told me I had to have a minor as well, I decided to pick up mass communication.

Most people might say that I find a way to get what I want simply because I fight for what I want. In the fashion world it is one man for himself when it comes to being on top. To succeed in these types, of places you have to be able to strive for what you want and be able to put your failures behind you. As a proud owner of almost every issue of Vogue magazine and Harpers Bazaar, it would be a dream come true to get to see one of my articles or advertisements in them.