Hi, my name is Vivica! I grew up in Stockton, California. At a young age, I was introduced to the fashion industry, as my grandma was a tailor and my uncle was a photographer. Instantly, I developed an interest in design. From trying to sew clothes for my dolls to walking around the house pretending to be wearing gowns made of blankets, I loved it. This lead to me asking my grandma to teach me how to use her sewing machine. I would spend any of my free time I had to sew. It didn’t take me too long to realize that I wanted to be a fashion designer, and I was going to do whatever I could to get there.

In high school, I took sewing classes, which really helped me set a good foundation for the basics of design. I was taught how to use patterns, choosing the right textiles for each project and sewing the garment from start to finish. After my first semester of sewing classes, I felt comfortable with the process, and this was when I really started to see myself progress. I was working more efficiently and my construction became cleaner. My teacher was amazing; she really took the time to teach me everything she knew, and made me feel confident I was headed in the right direction. During my junior year of high school, I decided to apply as a fashion design major to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising’s Junior Advantage Program, which allowed juniors to apply early. After months of prepping my portfolio, submitting letters and going through phone interviews, I was over the moon when I received my acceptance letter in the mail. FIDM was a school I had dreamed of going to since I was a kid, and being able to say I was accepted as a junior brought me to tears. I couldn’t wait for the journey that was to come.

FIDM Debut Show 2019

High School Graduation

Decision Day

When college came around I was overwhelmed to say the least. School started in July of 2019, just two months after I graduated high school. While I was trying to soak up the last weeks I had with my friends before we all headed off to college, I was frantically looking for apartments in San Francisco and preparing for my next adventure. For a couple of months, I was staying in different places and sometimes commuting to school before I even found a stable place to live. You would think all of this change would completely stress me out, and don’t get me wrong it definitely did, but 98% of the time I felt like I was living the dream. I was attending the school of my dreams in the city I loved, made amazing friends and was taking classes I genuinely enjoyed. In October of 2019, I moved into my apartment and finally felt like I had a little piece of the city that I could call mine. Once I was settled, I became more involved and joined FIDM’s student run magazine, MODE. I became a co creative director as well as a fashion co editor. This was the first time I had taken on a responsibility this large, but I felt confident and excited to be contributing to a project I was passionate about. So while I was helping create looks with the design team, it was also my job to schedule meetings, fittings, and photoshoots, as well as making sure all departments were coordinating with each other. I was amazed in myself on how well I could balance schoolwork, the magazine, a social life and making sure I still had time to myself. Unfortunately this all came to a halt in February of 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic took over the world. In a blink of an eye, classes were canceled, everyone was moving back home and what finally felt like a normal routine was taken away. I moved back home and finished the remainder of my schooling online. Although I was still able to learn a lot from my classes, I was heartbroken that I never got to fully experience what could have been two amazing years on campus. But despite the pandemic, in March of 2021, I graduated from FIDM with an Associate’s degree in Fashion Design. Something that felt so far away and so impossible, especially with new obstacles in place, was finally mine. All of the hard work and years of working to get to this moment had finally paid off. When I think about how far I’ve come, I often think about that little girl sewing doll clothes and wearing blanket gowns, and how proud she would be of the person she was going to become.

FIDM Graduation

After Finals

Last Day of School Over Zoom