Just bead it
The intricate beadwork zigzagging Kallen Forster’s designs wowed audiences at New Orleans Fashion Week in October, and afterward, too, when she auctioned the pieces to benefit her bead brigade, the women of workforce training co-ops in Kenya and Peru.
Like TOMS shoes, the Suzanne Perron-mentored LSU graduate student is devoted to blending social responsibility and fashion.
“It’s about sustainable clothing and sustainable lives,” she says.
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This month, Forster earns a master’s degree in apparel design and turns her attention to launching a skills training co-op in her native New Orleans called Design Lab, which will help unemployed women earn a living through knitting, beadwork and apparel design.
“It’s a way to tap into their interests with something that’s creative but doesn’t require a college education,” Forster says. “It’s a win-win.”
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