"I know there are people like me out there who want to wear these kind of clothes, that's another reason why I'm doing this." - a conversation with Nora Iknadossian - a podcast by Liz Gold
from 2020-11-23T18:00
In this last episode of Conversations of Liz Gold, I talk with Nora Iknadossian all about her family and her new clothing line coming out in early 2021. Listen to Nora talk about how she has been dealing with covid-19, what it was like growing up as a queer child of immigrants who fled from war-torn Beirut, Lebanon and her easy, no-fucks-given style as a clothing designer.
On her family:
"They were refugees. They escaped. They came over here and my dad had his own business out there and they were all doing really well and my mom went to school and she did really well. Life was positive and hopeful and bright and then this war broke out. And they just fled. And they came here."
"Growing up, I'm a lot more like my dad. I have a lot of his traits. When he was in Beirut, he was a shoe designer. He was making shoes. He had a store and everything and then his shop got bombed. And I slowly followed in his footsteps."
"They definitely instilled a lot of hard work which I really really appreciate."
"Being Middle Eastern - being gay is like you're basically Satan. 'That's awful, you'll get disowned, this is the worst thing, you can't do this...'"
On starting her own clothing line:
"I was helping somebody launch their collection recently and I'm like doing all of the work. The really technical side of the business and I'm like 'what am I doing? I can do this myself.'"
"Our mind is what our blockage is. We're the ones that are the road block. I definitely don't promote my skills or my abilities."
"I started sketching items that I would love to have. I basically designed my closet - what I would wear."
"I used part of my last name, which I think is really important especially as an Armenian person. Having that Armenian exposure out there, supporting the Armenian community and being known that we are strong people and we are definitely overcoming our past and history and we have a voice. That was very important to me to keep that "ian" in there."
"I've just gotten so much support. It's been wonderful."
Nora Iknadossian bio
Nora Iknadossian was born in Pasadena, California but has been in New York City half her life. She's a daughter of immigrants who fled from war-torn Beirut, Lebanon. Nora is an identical twin but the youngest by 8 minutes. Professionally, she's been a clothing designer for some large brands all over the globe. She describes her style as, "Simple, easy and no fucks given" and oh yeah, she's queer.
www.dossiannyc.com
IG: Dossian_nyc
IG: Celene
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