Carried Into Service
Parachute material. Donated name tapes. Unit patches. The people behind what I wore.
Parachute material. Paracord. Name tapes and unit patches, donated by service members and their families. They became a dress, but the story belongs to the people behind them: someone who served, someone a family remembers, and the things they carry that can be difficult to put into words.
The dress
We had the dress constructed out of parachute material, with paracord on the back.
The unit patches down the dress were donated by a medic.
I kept the cut modest, an old Hollywood style, because this dress is supposed to represent something meaningful to these people.
What it carries
It’s more of a statement of the things that they carry that they can’t speak about.
This dress is a memorial for people who are no longer with us: those killed in combat, and those lost to veteran suicide because of PTSD. That’s the whole base of it.
It gives me a way to start conversations about the things people in the military feel they can’t talk about.
Watch
Carried Into Service, from the Inside Success Gala
Why that night
I decided to wear it to the Inside Success Gala.
People would approach me and ask, “Oh my God, who made this dress?” That gave me an opportunity to speak with them about my purpose and why I was there.
Quiet gentlemen in the back came forward. One I noticed hadn’t said a word all night came up to me and said, “Hey, I serve. This is really cool. I love what you’re doing.” And we talked about it.
I connected with a man who served in the Marines. Now he’s essentially an angel donor for people in the military, and those who have served. He’s someone behind my curtain now, someone I can go to and say, “Hey, there’s this veteran I’m working with. He needs this. How do I acquire it for him?” Then I connect them, and they get what they need.
Out of my bubble
I’m an introvert, so it forced me out of my bubble, to talk to people I wouldn’t normally talk to, because I usually hang out in the back of a room. It forced me to be social. And it was cool.
Why I do this
I’m not here to just take your money. I’m doing it for you.
From the night
Frame from the Inside Success Gala film.
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