Evening Standard 2019
I wanted to share some experiences with you all, with lockdown in place and much time on our hands to reflect I feel its time to really put out there our SULDN experience and my personal journey with putting my creativity out in the world.
The title is trolling aint got no room in this world. Why I have used that is because in 2019 from January to July/ August we or I suffered a number of trollers on our social medias/ emails and any point of contact they had access too. The trolling started due to my Goddess collection, this collection I worked on whilst living in Paris in 2017 and my most detailed work normally takes almost a year to finalise, it is a very long time but its part of a journey and a story that is connected to me. I launched this piece in 2018 on my return to London and it was by far the best selling item we had on SULDN, I put my heart and soul in to designing this piece and felt it really related to my personal experience in my practice of yoga and learning about Buddhism, meditation, peace and healing, this may not be a good enough excuse, but it was my truth. I tried to understand the community and see it from there point of view but with such hatred in there hearts and awful ways of expressing themselves to me in regards to them wanting me to remove the item was not justified with this peace, loving and divine religion that I felt was what it portrayed.
After some time of thinking and realising it was the swimsuit that was causing the stir I removed the item, but I felt it was in my right to keep my original jacket piece as it was part of my SULDN story. Not going to lie but I found the trolling extremely hard to lift, it was by far one of the most difficult processes I had been through with my brand so far. When you are a creative and share your art in to the world, you are pouring your heart and soul out there too, for then to risk people not liking it or judge you and your work. So trying to explain my self and how the design came to life was hard to get across, we are a small brand normally one man band- so I didn’t have the luxury of PR or anything to help me turn this around, but I tried my hardest and with the help of friends who were amazing through out and kept telling me keep strong which I’m very grateful for.
But unfortunately that didn’t stop the trolling - the trolls stopped for a few months and then in July it started up again and by this point if you know me, you will know I don’t have the highest level of patience which drew me to bringing down our instagram account, I had worked so hard to build it up to were it was and have the following for my brand that we had… but knowing my mental health was being so effected by the abuse online I had to do the right thing and put myself first. I’m not the only person that has gone through this, which is why I want to highlight the issue. As much as social media/ instagram is a great platform to express ourselves, but at the same time it is a dangerous place for those with good intentions. Trolling has destroyed many peoples lives and I really believe that. For that reason I want to continue my research on this matter and put my own experience in to trying to make a change and help those that find cruelty and hiding behind a screen to help destroy peoples lives to see a kinder, more loving world is the way forward and not hating.
Yes I have to start again with building my following but its given me a clean slate to build what SULDN really is about, we make clothes to make the world a happier place, putting colour in to the world, building confidence in women through my cuts and strong woman attitude and this has been my moto from the beginning, some of you will already know this if you’ve been following my journey since 2014. Lets make the world a happier place and be mindful about how we deal with situations like this, and how we can help those that feel like its ok to be cruel.. they are also hurting, this is why they portray pain on to others trying to drag people in to the same realm as them.
On a positive note Im working on a new collection and will be launching the items in September, its been a while since I’ve put together a full series of prints and new styles. But I’m ready to share new creations with you all!
Love and kindness,
Sera
Follow our new instagram account @SULDNFASHION <3
*Mental Health Week Awareness- May 2020