About Us
People often ask me how my label “Say La Vie” came to be. It seems strange to admit this, but a few years ago, I had never tie-dyed anything in my life – not ever! Now, I’m often referred to as the “tie-dye lady.” The inspiration to drop clothing in a bucket of dye came to me rather unceremoniously when I clumsily dribbled something down the front of a pristine new white T-shirt. Feeling rather foolish and quite upset with myself, I decided there had to be a way to remedy the situation.
Since I’ve always been a believer in the transformative power of color (think new lipstick, pedicures and painted furniture) I chose to dye the shirt a beautiful shade of French blue. But, to my dismay, I ended up with a blotchy mess. It was even worse than before. Now what? Rather than fight what naturally happened, I chose to use it to my advantage. By adding rubber bands and a deep navy blue dye, the blotchy mess became my very first tie-dye creation. Mission accomplished. I was able to both salvage the shirt and in the process, create an entirely new look.
This silly little tee caused a bit of a stir. Though I liked it, I had no idea anyone else would even notice. My friends soon began handing me their shirts so I could create the same look for them. I welcomed this opportunity to practice on other peoples’ clothes, but soon found I couldn’t keep up with the volume of requests. Weeks and weeks of this (and my first sales) led me to turn this interest into a business.
All of this began with an ill-placed spill that got even worse before it got any better. C’est la vie! In tie-dye, as in life, mistakes happen. If you search for precision or uniformity in either, you will certainly end up disappointed. At Say La Vie, our philosophy is to celebrate the beauty of imperfection.
Wear, enjoy, and revel in the acceptance that nothing ever comes out exactly the same way twice.