Fashion forward: Senior Julia McJunkin plans to make her mark in the design world
“You have literally everything in the world, why do you need an airplane?” said Mr. McJunkin.
“How else is Barbie supposed to get to Paris to go walk in the fashion show?”
These are the words of a young Julia McJunkin many, many years ago. McJunkin had a near obsession with Barbie dolls as a young girl, and it seems to have had a big impact on her today.
\tAs seniors, the class of 2022 is frantically trying to figure out plans for the years after high school. McJunkin already has her next steps in order. She plans to start her own fashion line right after graduation. “I’m not going to college,” she explained. “I was going to go to IUPUI Kelley School of Business, but I found out that a lot of my credits don’t transfer. I graduate in December, so I will start that process right after high school. I’ll be working full time and just waiting for my business to start up.”
\tDecember is right around the corner, so she already has started working on plans for her business. As of now, she plans to start completely online. “I’m going to talk to some businesses about how they do their social media marketing. I’m going to start online completely until I move somewhere,” said McJunkin. “Because taxes are high, I have to consider that for brick and mortar. So I want to expand my social media for now.”
\tAs she looks to get kick started soon, McJunkin reflects on what she is going to create, and for whom. Many teens are heavily affected by fashion trends of today. For McJunkin, inspiration is found from the 1950s. “[My inspiration is] kind of old school … like Audrey Hepburn. She’s my inspiration for everything because she was really modest, but she was really into high fashion,” explained McJunkin. Hepburn has been a big inspiration to McJunkin for the kind of clothes she wants to create, as well as in her personal fashion. “I’m more of a business kind of modest kind of style because I don’t like exposing myself, but I like being different. I like wearing fun colors. I just don’t want to be boring. Also, shoes are a big part of my outfits, too. Jordans are my favorite. I like 1’s or 4’s.”
\tThough she is influenced by a 1950s actress, she also does dabble in the current fashion industry trends. “Chanel is probably my favorite. If I could model for them, that would be cool,” she said. “I like how it's more business casual, but still girly. Probably on a lower end would be Princess Polly. It’s an Australian brand and they are more trendy, but they have really cool patterns, like with their pants,” said McJunkin.
\tThe fashion of today has inspired her to create her own line not only because of what it does have, but also because of what it lacks. “You can wear a size two somewhere, and then a two will not fit you at a different store,” she said, “so I just want girls and guys to feel comfortable and not have a sizing issue.” Sizing issues have been an age-old problem, and McJunkin plans to solve it. She has the vision and the plan to do it -- and has been cooking up this idea since she was a little girl, thanks to inspiration from her father.
\tMany teens are influenced by their parents to continue the family line of work. McJunkin is putting her own spin on this trend. “My dad is an entrepreneur, so it’s kind of like in my genes, I guess. I’ve always wanted to be a part of that,” she said. Though her dad does not own his own fashion line, she has been inspired to enter the world of business and make it her oyster. “I’m 18 now, so hopefully I’ll have a full handle on things by 19,” she said. “And hopefully in 10 to 15 years it’ll be successful enough to where it’s nationwide. I want it to go really far.”
Story by Liza Petersson