Beyond the Stitch

How helpful are Catholic influencers when it comes to evangelization? Are we simply shouting into an echo chamber? And are Catholic brands just profiting off of the name of Jesus? At what point does sharing your faith become a marketing tool? And what about Catholic influencer copycats? Join us for a reflective episode on this platform we exist in.

If you want to go sustainable for your swimsuit this summer but don't know where to start, look no further than Siena and Co. Swimwear! Catherine Huss joins Veronica and Lilly again, this time to talk about her second swimwear collection, what goes into a sustainable swimsuit vs. a fast fashion one, and how she funds her collections! We love having Catherine on- she studied apparel design with an emphasis on construction techniques and social justice within the garment industry, in which she’s worked as a fit technician! She's got tons of expertise, and like many women she always had to compromise on the swimwear she’s worn, whether it be style, quality, amount of coverage or where and how it was made. She is passionate about reminding women of their worth by creating dignifying jobs for those in the fashion industry, and designing swimsuits women can feel confident in. Siena and Co. now offers sizes up to 3X! You can back the Retro Collection here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/catherinehuss/siena-and-co-swimwear-retro-collection?ref=bpe32q

Veronica chats with Udochi Ekwerike, a Catholic creative who works in fashion. Together they discuss what it looks like to work in a secular field while still growing in faith. Udochi explains that all beauty leads back to the source and that doing your job well is an act of love. Tune in for a great episode!

This week, we chatted with swimsuit designer and founder of Siena and Co., Catherine Huss! We immediately dove into all the good stuff -- modesty culture and the age old modest swimsuit debacle most Catholic women face every summer.  Catherine shares her story as a Catholic fashion designer and how she was inspired to create beautiful swimsuits that put the dignity of the human person first without sacrificing the beauty of the female form. We also dig into what is means to "look like" a Catholic woman and how genuine feminine expression is far from looking stereotypical.  Find Catherine's gorgeous suits here, they just dropped this week! 

Julia Wehner is a poet, Montessori teacher, and avid playlist creator who wrote poems to pair with each garment in the Verdant collection from last spring.  She and Veronica discuss creative processes, how the poems were structured, meeting ourselves in small children's wonder, how clothing shapes artistic life, and who different garments in the collection are named after.   Follow along with Litany at www.litanynyc.com or on instagram at @litany.nyc Find Julia and her work on instagram at @homegrowndreamer.

Welcome back!!!  Lillian, Litany's new Customer Experience Manager, and Veronica dig into the role of mental health in the fashion industry, what it looks like now, what they want it to become, and practical tips that have helped them take care of themselves within different work environments.  How does stress inhibit our creativity?  How can you tell if someone will be healthy to work with?  And what does unhealthy an work environment do to our view of ourselves?   Follow along over at @litany.nyc on Instagram or over at www.litanynyc.com to see the vision of healthy creativity Lillian and Veronica have for the fashion industry.

Leah has worked hard to get to where she is now- being a plus sized hijabi model, public speaker, and inclusive content creator takes a lot of assertive energy and self compassion. She and V talk about her experiences in the fashion industry and how she broke out of the mold she used to put herself in. Find her on Instagram @lvernon2000 or at www.leahvernon.com.

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the fabric designers don't use? Fabscrap is a non-profit that finds creative ways to keep that fabric out of landfills and back into the world. Veronica chats with Erin, Fabscrap's NYC Reuse Coordinator, about the behind-the-scenes of this hidden part of the fashion industry. Learn more at: https://fabscrap.org/ and @fab_scrap on Instagram.

What does it look like to have joy without an expiration date? How does our personal journey impact our personal style, and how can we express an authentic life through our personal style in our midlife? Join Veronica while she receives some real truth bombs with Dr. Ellen Albertson about womanhood and strength.

Have you ever wanted to know how a concept about something like the Incarnation can become a jacket you can wear? Once a month we'll be sharing the design process behind different garments, and today Veronica gets into the Lavinia Jacket (which is actually 2 jackets and 2 vests in 1!). She also talks about the secret folder of designs that don't make the final cut.

Why Olivia and Veronica started a clothing line during a pandemic. Getting started in the fashion industry, balancing life and creative work in a cutthroat industry, and also some very emotional thoughts on moms. (Edit: Olivia has recently received her new name with the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne! V referred to her as Olivia in this episode, but her new name is Sister Maria Dominique.)