Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Goodman.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
There was never a moment I can remember when fashion wasn’t apart of my life. I grew up surrounded by the vast vintage collection my grandmother accumulated in her life and playing dress up in my moms closet.
I come from a fairly small Northwest suburb outside of Chicago. My friends didn’t know or care about fashion. I was reading the blogs and following what was happening on the runway. I couldn’t afford those clothes so I was always shopping at thrift stores. I found clothing at the bottom of clearance bins that reminded me of that Christopher Kane jacket that inspired me a month ago. I have always been interested in creating an image from an outfit. It could tell a story much better than I could with words. So, in a small town that was my way of connecting with fashion.
I had an opportunity at 19 to move the city and I moved my life in two weeks with a few hundred dollars in my pocket. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but I knew it had to be in fashion.
Instagram had a huge impact on me as far as expressing and cultivating my image. I had always collected images of inspiration before the internet and this was just a digital and social way to do so.
Once I learned how to navigate Instagram, it became the way I networked and began collaborating on small projects as a model and artistic director.
After about a year, I started getting more freelance offers to model. I was good at it and enjoyed doing it so I kept doing it.
Has it been a smooth road?
Well, as an androgynous model in a midwestern market the odds are not always in my favor. I have a lot of people who don’t want or understand my look. I think that’s hard to grasp especially as a young woman in a society that continually perpetuates our faces as either good or bad.
A lot of the models in demand in Chicago have a certain look that’s very “girl next door”. That was just never a role I could fit into.
It was realizing and understanding that I’ll never be that girl and there’s a place for her and a place for me. I am good enough without needing to compare my look to someone else.
It was finding those brands and people that wanted me to represent them. It took time and I had people tell me I wasn’t model just because I wasn’t what they were used to.
I would urge women to value who they are, do not measure it and only offer that. If the person you’re talking to says no, you’re talking to the wrong person.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Model, influencer and visual artist story. Tell us more about the business.
As a model, it’s all about making someone’s work look it’s best. It’s setting the tone of the garment and who’s going to be wearing it and why.
It’s all about the image. Whether I’m in front of the camera or behind it, it’s just the telling of a story.
I’m proud that any work I have done or been apart has been true to my core and is something I believe in. I don’t wish to be a famous supermodel or have my name in lights. I am just honored to collaborate and work with artists, designers, and photographers who are just expressing their creative individuality.
As an influencer, my aesthetic is inspired heavily by my love for eccentric vintage of intertwining that with street style. Mixing high-end labels with $5 men’s trousers I found at the village discount outlet. You’re more likely to find me in a smoking suit than a skirt or a dress.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
As far as we’ve come, we have much further to go. There is a lot of fear still behind the power of a woman. The socio normative roles of the sexes are crumbling and there is a major social shift.
The barrier will break once we are not afraid to say no, are not be afraid to be called bossy, are not be afraid of being disliked and will not take no for answer. It’s shedding roles we never owned and taking on one we choose.
Men have always been at the forefront and it’s just continuing to push beyond that. It’s the fear of change to the system. It’s not remaining complacent in the face of oppression. The barriers will exist if we continue to stay behind them.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/glorydazed
Image Credit:
The Ox Project, Marissa Bolen, Matt Wiehlo
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