THE PROCESS OF BLOOM
Fashion designer Brittany Patterson, ex-Air Force, builds her collection through symbolism, memory, and contrast. At first glance, it reads as contradiction—soft crepe paper poppies against utilitarian camouflage, delicate forms interrupting rigid structure. The tension is intentional. This duality is autobiography.
“On a regular day, I’m a very colorful person. I can’t get away from the military part because that’s part of what made me ‘me.’ So, I’m mixing the two together.” Her work is rooted in a past defined by uniformity. “There were a lot of things that you couldn’t say no to, because ‘orders,’” she says, reflecting on military life and its erasure of individuality. Leaving meant reclaiming choice. “Once I left, it felt like I took my power back. I can say ‘no’—and I’m going to say no very often.”
That reclamation shapes her thesis collection. Rather than rejecting her military past, Brittany integrates it through structure, pattern, and symbolism. Camouflage appears in unexpected ways, including rare variations like a speckled German print she had “never seen before.” Yet the defining element is not the textile, but the flower.
“I developed a love of florals. The original concept was inspired by the Seven Magic Mountains in Las Vegas, the neutrals versus the big and bright. The hard versus the soft, or the masculine versus the feminine.” Drawn repeatedly to poppies, she researched their meaning and found their connection to military remembrance. “So, I was like ‘ok we’re doing poppies! I’m using it as a symbol of my service being a memory for me because that’s how we got here.’”
Here, the poppy becomes language. Where camouflage conceals, the flower reveals—softening discipline into memory. Brittany constructs these florals from crepe paper, fragile and transitory, contrasted against durable garments built to last.
“Some garments I’m keeping. I’ll take the flowers off the rest and hand them out.” The gesture mirrors memory itself—fragmented, shared, carried forward.
That mindset extends to her future. “I’d rather customize,” she says, envisioning a mobile alteration service rooted in adaptability, service, and precision—values shaped by her military training.
Brittany’s work is not just a collection. It is a negotiation between structure and freedom, discipline and softness. Camouflage remains but no longer conceals. The flowers bloom, carrying memory. Between them, Brittany Patterson finds her voice.
Words by Brie Parker, BFA Fashion Communication and Styling
Runway photography by Ed Jay.
