Michelle Rose landed on Earth on December 2, 1982, starting her journey on this planet in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Growing up with a crafty mother who once designed her own bespoke dresses in Singapore, Michelle spent many hours as a child next to Mom doing needlepoint, sewing outfits for her dolls, and embellishing countless t-shirts & jean jackets. Drawing, painting, and singing were among her favorite pastimes, too. Michelle's father passed down his vintage record collection, his nostalgia for the art & commercial design of his youth in the '50s, '60s and '70s, and the analytical brainpower of an engineer. Michelle's favorite memories with Dad include going to antique malls, garage sales, rock shops, car shows, and throwback diners.		Although no historical documents have been found to prove it, it's been said that somewhere along the time continuum young Michelle's pivotal decision to become a fashion designer came from the realization that it simply wasn't in her genes to become a willowy high fashion model, her intended way to become part of the fascinating world of fashion. She resolved to make her destiny as a designer instead, a move that made her understand that not only did she want to wear artistic & beautiful clothing, but that it was inevitable that she would give the planet a piece of who she is through her own designs (and she certainly enjoys being hired by herself to model her own designs these days). So Michelle spent four years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the most interdisciplinary art & design college in the US. There she was free to experiment and explore as many subjects as she wanted. She ran wild, studying patternmaking, garment finishing techniques, typography, graphic design, photography, screen printing, painting, color theory, and art history. It is perhaps for this reason that Michelle can't choose just one medium and is self-forced to combine & play with them all.
	After school, Michelle stayed in Chicago for a few years, working on fashion's retail side as the manager of an independent vintage clothing & furniture boutique. Here she honed her business savvy and gleaned more fashion knowledge firsthand from the best-made garments, absorbing lessons in time-honored sewing techniques, extreme styles of the past, and designer signatures. Michelle satisfied her entrepreneurial spirit during these years by running first an eBay site selling vintage clothing & accessories, and then a custom pinback button making company aimed at bands and local organizations.
When Michelle moved to Los Angeles, California, in November 2007, she threw herself into a new and exciting place, what she deemed the real land of opportunity. For herself and so many other artistic individuals, LA is a veritable mecca for creativity. Here Michelle has grown and transformed exponentially, thriving on new discoveries made every day.		Spending three and a half years working for one of the industry's top private label houses, first as design assistant and later as a textile graphic print designer, gave Michelle immense understanding & persepective of the garment industry. There she honed all of her skills under the fast-paced umbrella of multi-tasking, understanding her assets more fully day by day. It is with this tenacity and talent for taming chaos that Michelle was able to start her (third!) business while still juggling an overwhelmingly full-time job.
	While Michelle's final year working in the trenches of the industry was her favorite and most creative, her frustration with the waning amount of time for her own development was clear. She finally made the difficult and risky decision to leave the workforce and attack with her own army of one, in June of 2011. Aligned with a new mission - the rejection of mass commerce and the reembracing of art - Michelle is now focused on rediscovering her true self, and on finally devoting all her energy to creating for the sake of creation. And it won't just be clothing...
Michelle's great loves and most perpetual sources of contemplation, exploration, and inspiration include // Sixties culture, futurism, rock 'n' roll, kitsch & the everyday, uniforms, youth & childhood, science & mathematics, the city, technology & robots, all-powerful nature, the occult & the supernatural, space, love, and happiness.		Ever on both sides of the argument, Michelle's dual nature often translates into her work as contradiction. The result is the union of duelling angles: hard vs. soft, cheery vs. morbid, sexy vs. innocent. Color plays an essential role in Michelle's designs. She frequently uses the spectrum to define style lines, attract attention, and express emotion. Michelle's love of clean lines and good design, principles of the Mid-Century Modern era, inhabits structured, conceptual, mathematical pieces that satisfy her desire to promote, and provoke, thoughtfulness in fashion.
	Written by Michelle Rose in the third person michelle@michelle-rose.com Photograph by YVETTE DUDOIT