Meet Kennedy Briele | Artist & Fashion Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kennedy Briele and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kennedy, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The very first step in my thought process of starting my own business was figuring out what I was most inspired by and what I loved to do. Starting out, all I really knew was that I wanted to be a full time creator. I’ve always been influenced heavily by fine art and fashion and that really helped narrow down what path I would take of becoming creator. In middle and high school, I was always most attentive in my art classes and always laser focused on what I would wear to school. I quickly began to develop a love for creating physical art pieces, sketching, and abstract art. It wasn’t until I experienced multiple hardships in life, that I decided to figure out what it was that I truly wanted to do in life and I decided that I wanted to be a fashion designer.

When I first decided that I was going to take a leap of faith and develop a brand, the second step in my thought process was that I needed to educate myself more about the fashion industry and develop the skills that I’d need to be successful. My mom bought me my first sewing machine, sketch books, pattern making books, and the research commenced from there. After about 6 full months of learning the background knowledge on my own, I began thinking about what I wanted my brand to be on I was going to build it from the ground up. Although I knew that I wanted to design garments instead of being the one to cut and sew them, I learned how expensive it can be to manufacture garments in bulk quantities. So from there I knew that I’d have to start out by designing my pieces, making the patterns and sewing the garments. It was very nerve racking at first because I didn’t truly know what I was doing, I had to teach myself everything, and it wasn’t what I imagined I would start off doing. At first, it was quite discouraging and I contemplated not creating a brand at all but I had a lot of support from my family and friends and practicing day in and day out made all of the difference for me. From that point, I curated AMIL AMIR.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Right now I can firmly say that I am most excited about what comes next for AMIL AMIR. Although I started off doing merchandise and releasing small handmade collections for the first year of business, I am moving on to more exclusively constructed garments that will be targeted toward a specific audience. This rebrand will also highlight the fact that I am creating wearable art garments and I believe that is what sets me apart from others.

Getting to this point was not at all easy. There were numerous occasions where I felt discouraged about things, times where I had creators block so bad that I stopped creating completely, and there were also many sacrifices made to get where I am today. Despite the hardships that I faced in those times, the biggest lesson that I learned is that in order to be successful and triumphant, I had to keep my faith no matter what my present circumstances at the time looked like. Along the way, I have realized that during my hardships, I was entertaining so many limiting thoughts and beliefs that were hindering me and causing me to suffer. Hindsight is 20/20 so now I know that had I given up at any point along the way, I would not be where I am today and I would have succumbed to my doubtful and fearful thoughts. I always like to tell people that they can accomplish anything that they desire as long as they stay the course and remain resilient so that’s what I also tell myself in order to remain successful.

I now have the resources, time, and knowledge to debut my brand how I envisioned it from the very beginning and I am completely elated to be starting this new chapter! Although AMIL AMIR is being fully rebranded for the year 2022, I would love for the world to know that my brand is a reflection of a very big part of myself and has been made in the image of my second self. AMIL AMIR represents freedom of expression, passion, timelessness, and intricacy for all.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting town for the week, we would definitely visit 3UP Rooftop Bar in Carmel. I love the fact that every time I pass by, everyone seems to be having a great time. I’d also take her to places like the Punch Bowl Social, The Eiteljorg Museum, Sangiovese Ristorante, Penn and Beech Candle Co, and Daniel’ Vineyard! These are the most interesting and fun spots that I’ve visited in town lately!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would LOVE to give a big shoutout to my mother for always encouraging me, helping me, supporting me and for guiding mean the right direction! She bought me my first sewing machine, she let me turn one of our rooms in the basement into my sewing room, and she’s been one of my biggest supporters since the beginning. I would also love to shoutout my sister, my friends, and anyone else that has ever supported AMIL AMIR by posting, reposting, sharing, or purchasing.

Website: www.amilamir.com

Instagram: @amilamirofficial

Other: My personal Instagram/Twitter is @kennedybriele