PARLÉ THE GARAGE

To start at the beginning would be to tell you that I grew up on a sheep farm in Ireland, surrounded by forests and rivers. To start in the middle would be to say that I have consistently obsessed over all things fashion but suppressed the dream of working in it for far too long. To start now would be to explain that after five years of arduous theatre studies, the institute and the industry in the pursuit of happiness and found it at my workbench and annual gem fairs. Parlé The Garage has been in the making since 2022 and comes with its own story. While quietly developing the brand I moved to Mechelen, with my Swiss Shepard Vienna. I was renting an apartment with a run-down garage that I had no use for. With a vision in mind, I turned the garage into a Bohemian Popup that won the hearts of my namesake city and introduced me to the most amazing people who supported and continue to support Parlé The Garage. As wonderful as it sounds, the path has not been a clear one. Having enrolled in an institute that refused the hijab, I was given the ultimatum to remove mine or leave the goldsmithing course that I was so passionate about. After much resistance, I left the course and am currently enrolled at KISP, Antwerp while also working multiple student jobs and continuing to grow the brand. I hesitated to mention these last points since they are the less glamorous parts of the story, but as a twenty-five-year-old Irish, Muslim, independent female entrepreneur I believe that the best success stories are the marginalized ones..and this is mine.