Finding gratitude during lock down

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Melanie in Uncategorized // 0 Comments

By Lifestyle Editor Deborah Latouche

In this #lovedbylatouche I am writing about how I have been dealing with the pandemic.

I had many voices in my head asking endless questions about the meaning of life, fashion, money, and of course the brand I had just conceived SABIRAH.

Mid Feb

SABIRAH launched during London Fashion week on the 15th February.

The glorious 2020 a new decade, new career and the moment I gave in to my fears, stopped procrastinating and finally followed my dreams. SABIRAH finally arrived!

I had worked tirelessly for months and the launch was magical, emotionally overwhelming but in the best way. Back stage was calm and the amazing group of creative (friends) all worked beautifully together.
The press articles started coming in, and even a couple of orders, things were definitely going in the right direction. Or so I thought…

Mid March

I went into lockdown earlier than the UK government officials suggested as I have many friends in Italy and the consensus was to lockdown sooner rather than later, advice I could not ignore. I quickly realized that this was getting increasingly serious, factories, shops and mills closing in the UK and my appointments being postponed and later cancelled.

I went through a few ‘dark’ weeks grappling with the importance of fashion, the fact that I had just spent all my savings launching a brand which had suddenly been left in limbo and with no understanding of how or when things may turn around. And to top it off all my styling work had been cancelled so I also had no income. It felt like life, as I knew it was caving in…

I was now in a world of homeschooling, scared to go to the shops and spending 24 hours a day with my kids, there was no room for creativity as my mind was just going wild, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself – For 3 years I procrastinated over starting SABIRAH and when I finally plucked up the courage; the whole world was dying and went into a financial melt down!

April

The turnaround began in April when I slowly started putting my SABIRAH look book together, the images were beautiful and they bought back so many wonderful memories. I started to feel really proud of my achievements, of the work that was produced as a result of working with such amazing creatives, of the endless support I had from friends and the fact that none of this would have been possible without their belief in me and my belief in myself.
I started to see the positive things in my life like playing in the garden with my children, with the build up to the launch I was not there my them although I may have been in the same room I was just not present, too preoccupied with work and fashion. I have a loving husband; wonderful parents and we are all healthy. Once I started to say thank you, things began to change. Gratitude is such an amazing thing; it can enlighten your life and open your eyes to your many blessings.

OK so my brand is still in limbo, but I now have a beautiful collection that is out in the world, it is no longer just in my head a dream.
With that in mind I have decided to celebrate what we all created together, what an accomplishment and a milestone I as a person over came in order to launch SABIRAH in the first place. We are never certain of what life holds and who knows what will happen with this virus? whether I will even be here next month… So with that in mind I want to celebrate my team’s achievements and mine.
I want to end with words of wisdom from a lovely friend of mine Samson Soboye, told to me while I was complaining about things not going “right” for my brand.