Meet Kaitlyn Murray

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kaitlyn Murray. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kaitlyn below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Kaitlyn with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Hard work was instilled in me as a child. Growing up in a very working-class home, I saw that one had to work hard to survive. I never felt like I had lack, but I did always feel that I had to work for what I wanted. There was a natural flow of work and reward, reaping and sowing. Nothing was handed to me. I also played a lot of sports from a very young age, and though I was not excellent at one sport, I was overall a good athlete. I knew that to get better you had to practice – you had to put in the work. I knew I could always get better, and I wanted to improve. That mindset translated to college, I studied at one of the top-rated schools in my perspective field – the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. I had to work hard as we were all vying for the same jobs in one of the most cut-throat industries. Upon landing my first job out of college at one the top luxury companies in the world, my work ethic expanded. I spent my eight-year tenure at the same company, growing and bettering my skills, before leaving to start my own venture where I am currently working today.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Since taking an elective in school titled ‘Sustainability in Fashion Merchandising’ back in 2013, I have been concerned about the Fashion Industry’s impact on the environment. Working in the luxury sector, there are certainly sustainable elements. The products are meant to last, and can be repaired, people are paid an actual living wage to make the products, but I wanted to take it step further. In 2020 we saw clothing production stop and the air pollution cleared for the first time in years. That was when I realized it was time to take my brand, la vie après l’amour, meaning life after love, seriously. I left my corporate job in the summer of 2021 to pursue building my brand based on a circular production cycle. This means taking clothing that has already been produced and re-creating them into something new. The goal was to open a ‘maison’ or home, to house the whole operation under one roof as well as other local makers and sustainable designers, which I am proud to say I opened in Kingston, NY on August 23rd, 2023. I have had plenty of help along the way, but I am still my only employee. I currently run the shop, do all of the sourcing, sorting, cleaning, cutting, embroidering, social media, back-end business tasks, etc. I work with a production company, Make Aneew, as well as a few local tailors, who help with the sewing of my garments. I also host a monthly mending night where I invite people to bring their items missing buttons, with a hole or stain, and I help to repair them. I’ve hosted dinners, an artist q+a, and recently an evening with a vinyl dj and vintage vendors. I want to inspire others to live thoughtfully, though the climate issue is grave, I believe we can find beautiful ways to combat it. I am so excited to open the après café within our maison soon! I want to encourage a slower pace of life when people walk through our doors, and I believe many great conversations are shared with a cup of coffee in hand. Lastly, I would be remiss to not talk about Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week – an initiative I started last year to celebrate sustainable designers local to the HV. We are working on developing it as a nonprofit and rolling out our select events we are running this year. Stay tuned for more on that soon! I hope to welcome you in maison après, located at 101 Abeel Street Kingston, NY 12401, very soon!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Faith, perseverance, and the ability to pivot well. You need immense faith to believe in what you are doing and who you are called to be. You will come across plenty of people who don’t fully believe in you, especially people closest to you. If you don’t have faith strong enough to believe it yourself, and for me, faith that God is guiding me, you can get so easily knocked off track, discouraged, and defeated. In the era of instant-everything, the art of persevering can feel extremely foreign and uncomfortable. Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable and reminding yourself of your true north is what will keep you going when it gets tough. You also can’t control or plan for everything (or most things ha), being able to pivot or shift with grace will help you look at an obstacle as an opportunity leading you to somewhere greater than you even planned. Trust your intuition, be thoughtful, and keep working to better yourself in whatever area you are in. Most of life is lived on the journey not at the destination, so enjoy it.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The Artist’s Way. I was finally able to see and accept that I was an artist. We are so influenced by our families, culture, and societal structures, this book helped opened my mind and my eyes to see that I was a blocked artist for so long. There are so many gems in the book, but I think the most impactful to me is that we were created by the Great Creator to create.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Amelia C. Williams Jay B. Ballesteros Riley Rose Photography

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