Oh my goodness, can I tell you how exciting this all is? We are finally a REAL company with a REAL website! This business has been a dream in the making for almost two years now, and the day is finally here!!!
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Melissa Krenz, and I have basically been designing and making clothes since I was a kid. However, I never thought I could be a real fashion designer or own my own company until a few years ago when I had a radical encounter with God, and He changed my whole life forever! (Yay God!!!)
My very first sewing projects began when I was about 8 years old, and I wanted some nicer dresses for my Barbie dolls. Of course, we didn't have a real sewing machine then, (and even if we had, I'm not sure my mom would have trusted an 8 year old with it) so my dresses were made with a needle and thread (and man were they terrible!). When I grew out of playing with dolls, I gave up sewing for a while. The only sewing project I can recall, is adding on a ruffled hem to my prom dress one year, but that's about it. The day my sewing skills began to improve was the day my awesome Aunt Cynthia gave me her old Sears sewing machine ( and by OLD, I mean avocado green y'all )! She showed me how to thread it and despite it's looks, that thing worked like a champ. I was in college at the time and in a sorority, so this was the perfect tool for making inexpensive costumes for all of our themed parties. The more costumes I made the better I got, which built my skills and confidence. Before I knew it, I was making dresses too!
My beautiful avocado sewing machine...and it still works!!!
A dress I made for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival (See! Look how far I've come!!!)
The best part about making my own dresses (and getting good at it), was that I could make couture looking gowns at a fraction of the cost. I've always loved dresses with full skirts and lots of frills, but my shopping budget then was nonexistent. Plus, I'm pretty tall (at almost 5'9) so I could make my dresses a little longer as well. When it comes to fashion, I love all sorts of styles, but my favorite dresses accentuate the waist and feel classy, with a modern twist. I mean, If I'm going to put in the work to dress up, I want to look and feel amazing, you know???
And that's the perspective we are coming from with our brand, Lilies of the Field. Our dresses are classy, with loads of fabric, and professionally made right here in Houston, Texas (don't worry guys, I'm not sewing them myself! LOL!) We make gowns fit for a princess to wear and we want you to feel like a princess in them! We also love Father God very much (He's the one who gave us this business idea in the first place), so we also pray over and anoint our dresses. Honestly, we pray over everything we do, from the design process on, and we give Him all the glory and all the credit for making this incredible dream possible. Everything we do is for Him and we can do nothing without Him!
"Amen! preach it sister!"
(I'm sure someone reading this, actually thought that, right? Haha!)
So we hope you enjoy our dresses, and we hope you enjoy watching us grow! We will be releasing a new dress style once a month, with a preview of the new dress a week before it becomes available. This keeps things exciting and fresh, as there will always be something new coming out! Our dresses range from fancy-casual (is that a thing?) to fancy-business, to formal, and it really just comes down to what we feel like making for that month. For example, wouldn't it be great to release a Valentines dress a few weeks before Valentine's day? Yeah, we know, and we're on it!!! The same goes for Christmas and New years. Or what about finding that perfect summer maxi dress in June? Again, we know, and we're on it!
Our first dress is scheduled to launch November 1st, and if you want a preview before it goes on sale, simply sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page. We promise to only send one email a month, and we promise it will be good!
Well, I think that about covers it. We will be posting fun blogs as often as we can (the next one involves our less than perfect, amateur photo shoot!) and you can follow us on Instagram. Also, If you'd like to read more about our testimony, and how God changed us, click here!
Lots of love to you and yours!!!
-Melissa
Designer and CEO