We’re looking forward to introducing you to DL Pettigrew. Check out our conversation below.
DL, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I never thought I’d have the opportunity to use my design skills for a Hollywood motion picture. I’m working on a Western movie, “7 Spurs,” coming out next year. The senior producer and lead actor wants me to design several outfits for him, and I’ll also be creating a few pieces for one of the female actresses. Early in my business, I wouldn’t have taken this on, but I’m embracing it and having a blast brainstorming so many designs. The ideas are flowing, and it’s exciting for everyone involved.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is DL and I’m the owner and Sr. Designer for the brand Hidden PEARLS llc.
I design high-end western clothing for women who want to mark their own trails in life.
We hide ONE single fresh water PEARL in every design we do.
Our mission is to support battered women who think they are important or have no value in this world.
After volunteering for 23 years at one of the largest battered women shelters I know first hand how important this mission
is for so many amazing women.
I draw the designs, and then work with a pattern maker , and then we do a sample in a muslin fabric .
It takes me 6 months to source all of the fabrics for a complete collection which we do two a year.
After the design and fit has been approved then we make up the 1st sample out of the fabric, and then do a photo shoot with model’s wearing each design. Then we send the sample to the manufacturer, and they make up a counter sample.
If it is good then we go into production with the order’s we have from customers and boutiques as well.
The process is long but rewarding if all goes well. So many people don’t even know how their clothes are made.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
It would be my dear mother who is about to turn 90 on November 6th.
She fought for me to go to college even though I didn’t do well on the senior placement exam, and my school counselor
thought I wasn’t college material.
She told him he was wrong, and I proved him wrong by going to FSU, and graduating as one of the top designer’s ,with two degree’s and was designer of the year twice. I also was the president over our design club, and was awarded the largest grant to do research for fashion and how it impacts us.
We did a large fashion show educating people on fabric content and energy crisis for President Jimmy Carter.
” What Do You Wear To An Energy Crisis?”
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
It would be the two attempted rapes during my college days.
I have learned how to protect myself, and also other women.
That being said I do support the women, but not all women since I have issues after raising son’s that women need to
dress better.
On all of the big events in Hollywood most of the women come to the events naked, and the men are dressed in their tux’s, and looking so fine.
The dresses most of the women wear need to stay in the bedroom. They have become horrible role model’s for our young girl’s, and it is shameful that they do this.
Look in the mirror before you go out! They look like call girl’s ready for hired.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
All my friends and team for Hidden PEARLS would say that I invest in people , and giving time to someone is most important of all.
For example tomorrow we are rallying around a friend who is going blind , and we are celebrating her birthday in a big way before she can’t see us anymore with her eyes.
She is already totally blind in the left eye.
Showing people that you value them enough to want to be with them is huge, and it goes both ways.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes since my reward is not from man but from God Almighty only!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shophiddenpearls.com
- Instagram: shophiddenpearls
- Linkedin: HiddenPEARLS
- Facebook: Hidden PEARLS llc
Image Credits
David Alderman Photography
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