Douglas Stewart

You didn't know because I was so ashamed about it that I was fearful if I told you that the other kids were bullying me for being gay, that you would also hate me for being gay.

I think she was heartbroken.

You know, I think she felt so she's always been a huge supporter of me.

I love my sister dearly.

And I think, you know, I think when the person you love is suffering through something in silence, I think you can't help but just feel like you wish you'd been there to be able to take some of that pain.

That's right.

Yeah, I was just wrapping up my education and I thought I was going to go into the mill system.

I thought I was going to go into a very traditional employment and make cloth and make textiles.

And I had done this really wonderful thing where I had spent a summer with the last remaining shakers on earth up in Sabbath Day Lake, Maine, and I had access to all their archives and their clothes.

This is 1998.

And I based my degree show, my graduate show on it.

And at fashion school, all students sort of, they're very outre.

You know, they use lots of color and pattern and feathers.

And if they can sequin a thing, they sequin it.

And I had created this collection that was incredibly somber, very respectful of the shakers.

It was quite monastic.

It was very simple.

And I watched all these companies come through my college and start to hire graduates.

They would go to Prada.

They would go to Gucci.