We hope you were able to read our Founder and Owner’s A Path Toward Change post a few weeks ago where the Dixie team pledged to make a conscious effort to diversify the artists and creatives we feature on our social media and blog. With that in mind, we are so pleased to introduce you to Haitian designer Pierre Sophia Demirtas (“Sophia”) of Fanm Mon, a luxury womenswear brand that launched in 2013. With headquarters in the U.S., Turkey, and Ukraine, the label takes a bold approach to embroidery, offering feminine styles and vibrant color combinations. Sophia draws her inspiration for her stunning dress designs from nature’s beauty, the surroundings of her home on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, as well as her travels.
The Dixie team loves the effortlessly stylish, yet classically feminine statement of Sophia’s dresses. The beautiful linen especially speaks to us in these muggy and hot dog days of our Birmingham, Alabama summer! Enjoy our Creative Chat with the lovely and talented Sophia Demirtas below!
What are you most proud of?
I am extremely proud of my team. Without their hard work and dedication @fanmmon as we know it would not exist.
What is currently inspiring you?
I have been reviewing my archive a lot, especially during quarantine. So now I find myself excited, looking at some of the designs I created, that I never fully developed or presented to my audience. So they have been a great source of inspo.
How are you practicing:
Kindness (towards yourself and others)? I try very hard to wake up and remain immensely grateful. I find that being grateful is very much like being in love. Your perspective unravels in the most beautiful way, so you experience joy, kindness, and peace with a balanced energy, which propels you to automatically be kind to yourself, others, and nature.
Discipline (your work, your health, your routines)? I approach work in a way that is not very much like work. I want to have a human experience first and foremost, and that is the energy I choose to share with everyone that comes in contact with the brand, none of that corporate or super strict business vibe! I share my routine almost daily via my IG story, because as much as I want to dress women in my beautiful designs, I equally wish to encourage them to remember nature. Nature is the ultimate source, and the most sustainable act we can do is support nature’s eco system and become a part of it entirely.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given and how do you try to implement it in your daily life?
Be a person of integrity!
I was blessed to be given this advice by my grandmother, who raised me, and was even more blessed to have her lead by example!
Who are other Black business owners and creatives that inspire you (and that we should make sure are on our radar)?
I am blessed to know the following women and extremely proud of their passion, vision and drive as entrepreneurs:
We’re seeing a surge in physical correspondence as there is always something special about receiving a hand-written note and people now have more time. If you were to send a physical note to some of your Instagram friends, who would they be?
I would send the hand written note to my beloved husband @demirtashk