Q&A Rainbow Style

Since my Talk on wearing nothing new went live on TED, I’ve received an intense amount of questions. I think the technical term for the quantity is “rainbow load.” OK, maybe that’s just my term. Some of the questions are logistical, like “Where do you shop for X?” Others are more technical, “What if I’m too Y to find clothes at thrift stores?” There are questions specific to my profession: “What advice do you have for young designers?” And then there are the big, general ones, like this from a recent creative-leaning college grad: “Where do I get started?” Whew, that’s a biggie, and I bet we’re all still working on that one.

I got to thinking that a lot of these Q’s (and hopefully my impending A’s) would actually be relevant to more than just the original Q-er. And even if they’re not, posting the Q&A’s here might be a way for us to take comfort in the knowledge that we’re not all 100% self-assured humans 100% of the time, which is something that’s way too easy to take for granted. It could quite possibly be the case that I can’t A some of the Qs, but that the collective wisdom of Lucky So And So’s readership can offer insight through comments. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

So, show of hands, who would be cool with me posting their Q’s here and then A-ing them for all the world to read? AWESOME!

And now, here is a preemptive list of FAQ’s I imagine will be associated with this new Q&A policy:

Q: Um, so what’s happening?
A: If you’ve got a question, you can send it to this dedicated email address: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Q: And a real person will be answering these questions?
A: Yes, her name is Jessi (me). She plans to do her best. Be loving and patient with her as she really has no idea what she’s getting herself into.

Q: Do I need to use my real name?
A: No! Feel free to use some radio-call-in-show-style name like “Quirky in Quebec” or “Blue in the Face.” Bonus points if you can work color into your anonymous nomer. If you don’t mind revealing your actual name, please explicitly indicate that in your email. Otherwise it won’t be used.

Q: What other information do you need?
A: Whatever is relevant to your question. If you’re saying it’s hard to find thrift stores in your neck of the woods, please state what neck of the woods that is. If you’re saying you’re too old for something, tell us how old you think too old is.

Q: So this Jessi is some kind of expert?
A: Oh Spaghetti Monster NO! She’s just a person with a ridiculously optimistic outlook and a boatload of experience in wearing nothing new. She’s also got varying levels of experience in the areas of: being a designer, running a small business with her best friends, being married to her business partner, coming from a small town and making it in the big city, finding friends, singing karaoke, making costumes, loving color, hosting Kentucky Derby parties and organizing rainbow parades.

Q: Is this a joke?
A: No, but fair warning, it could all go terribly awry. Just promise Jessi that any answers she gives will always be taken with a grain of salt.