Hi, I’m Kim!
If I’m honest, I am totally, completely, overwhelmingly glad that you are here! Really! I’m not gonna play it cool… If you start any kind of journey, you can never really know if it will resonate with anyone… And even if I’m still at the very beginning of this journey, I already see myself surrounded by so many kind-hearted, honestly interested and dedicated people. So, welcome to Dear Aline!
Let me give you a little round-up of myself:
My name is Kim. Kim Aline Alasu-Truchet to be precise. This alone reflects the many surroundings, I’ve found myself in since day one.
I grew up in a small village next to Zurich (Switzerland) with a wonderful mum, and a patchwork family, that I am very blessed with, on my dad’s side. I had a lovely and very natural childhood and was always interested in coloring and handicrafts of any kind. After third grade I HATED school! Not the other kids, not the teachers (maybe a little), but mainly I just hated the subjects. I was good at drawing and music class, but no one seemed to care. There was only one thing of importance, math and languages. I hated math (still do), I was terrible at it. Simply because I was unbelievably uninspired by these things. When I was about 16 I found Pinterest and it OPENED MY EYES, haha let’s be honest, it did for all of us! It opened a brand-new world to my 16 year old self, a world where all the things that I was interested in, seemed to be of great importance. A world of beauty and aesthetic, when Switzerland was still kind of behind style wise.
As I got more and more into all things design and loved playing around with Photoshop, I ended up starting my apprenticeship in a graphic agency. This may sound appealing, but let me tell you, it was not. Not at all. You have to know, here in Switzerland it’s very common, to do an apprenticeship instead of going to college. And if you do so, you have to decide, what you want to do for the next three or four years of your life. At an age as young as 15 or 16. How would you know? So there I was, 16, full of creativity and captured by Pinterest-magic, sitting in front of the computer for 8 hours a day, checking the space between letters of cookbooks.
Fast forward to 2015. I was in love with clothing! I always loved drawing them. I started sewing, as I didn’t find the type of clothes I wanted to wear. I combed through Pinterest back and forth, to find new inspiration and lovely looks and most importantly, I knew exactly, this is it! That’s what I want to do, that’s what I’m good at and what fulfills me. After the apprenticeship and some more working experience, my love and I set off to Sydney. We stayed there for one year, met the best people and I did a one-year Fashion Design course at TAFE.
There in Sydney, the little seed that had been planted long ago, started growing (how poetic…) inside of me. I started thinking a lot about things regarding health, and especially the use of toxins in our skincare, detergents and in our clothes. I quickly was confused with how with talked greatly about the “big” designers, and runways and textiles at School, but never ever about the people who made the clothes, never where they came from. Never about how the fabrics were produced, or about any of the toxic ways they are produced in. I don’t know exactly what set me off with these thoughts, but my love for design and my morals really started colliding. I dug deep, trying to peel back the layers of this seemingly “glamorous” world. It was clear to me, there has to be space for morality and creativity next to each other. The idea of the Dear Aline brand was born. I’ve always wanted to design clothes and start a brand, but now it was becoming part of something bigger, something very dear to my heart.
After one year we moved back to Zurich, we got married (which was so so beautiful) and I started shaping Dear Aline. I’m very excited, to finally start doing what I love and to share it with all of you. This path of building Dear Aline with the right suppliers, the right manufacturers, considering the people and the environment, will be a slow process. It takes time, it doesn’t happen over night and that’s okay! In this journal I want to document it. Success, the trial and errors and not only that, but also other parts of life. Dear Aline represents “ An Ode To Life”, an ode to all the little details, the everyday beauty, the things that make life delightful. And exactly this delight, along with the process of building this brand, I would love to share with you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to share this with you, to embrace and welcome it and to be open for new things. I’m very grateful that, in the words of Beth Kirby, “there’s always room at the top”.
Warmly,
Kim
PS: This is my first ever Blog Post! Yay! Let me know what you think, tell me about yourself or ask me any questions you have down in the comments or over on Instagram! :)