CREDIT: SHANNON MCCABE OF DIAMOND STUDIOS
Nicole Snobelen (3rd from the right) walks with models wearing items from her collection.

Nicole Snobelen knew from a young age that she wanted to be a fashion designer. It all began from a clothes matching and colouring game that her aunt had given to her and from then on, it was all about “fashion, fashion, fashion”, according to the designer.

Snobelen, a native of small town Blenheim, Ont., who now resides in London, first applied to Fanshawe and Ryerson, along with other institutions, but once she heard back from Fanshawe’s fashion design program first, she went to an open house to check it out and knew it was the school for her.

“I just had a feeling that this is where I needed to be,” Snobelen said. “It was awesome, being 17 and coming to school I wish I would have paid more attention, I was excited about coming to the pub nights and meeting people all the time, but the class that I had was awesome, we all became really good friends and it was a good community to be a part of. The faculty was awesome and everyone was very helpful. I always recommend Fanshawe for the program.”

According to Snobelen, her three years at Fanshawe were positive, where she not only learned a lot about the industry, but she also had teachers who cared about their students and were there to answer any questions they had.

“I realized they’re not out to get you and they actually want to see you succeed, so they were very helpful,” Snobelen said.

According to Snobelen, one person who really stuck out to her from the program was the current fashion design technologist Lorrie Lawrence, who has become good friends with the young designer and helped her with her fashion line and her fashion fundraiser.

“I love Fanshwe, it’s such a personable community,” Snobelen said.

Though sewing is growing on her, Snobelen said while in school she wasn’t a fan of it and much preferred her fashion concepts class since it was all about designing.

After graduating in 2012 Snobelen worked in the entertainment industry as a promotions manager for a local bar, but soon after started making her own dresses with extra bits of material left over from school.

After posting her designs on social media, she received compliments on where people could get the garment or order it. Soon after, Snobelen started making custom orders throughout the day, while working another job during the evening and when the opportunity came to quit her night job and start designing full time, she went for it.

Her online boutique Evelynn was then created.

At this point, without an entrepreneurship background, Snobelen said she went to London Small Business Centre, where advisors helped her with grants and funding and how to build up her business, including having a mentor and receiving a Starter Company grant.

Snobelen’s advisors suggested ways in which she could make changes within her business and further her career.

“We came up with the decision that I needed to start doing an actual collection and selling that which I love because when you’re doing custom work it kind of takes away the art of what you’re doing and what you want to design,” Snobelen said.

Evelynn, the online boutique sells a variety of items for women and babies, and is just starting to sell men’s sweaters, with men’s wear being something Snobelen is still trying to understand how to create, since it wasn’t taught while at Fanshawe.

Snobelen is currently a one women show, as she she designs, constructs and promotes her business, while her best friend photographs her creations to look presentable online.

Even the name Evelynn is personal to Snobelen.

“Evelynn, was named after my grandmother, so she’s been a huge inspiration in me, pursuing my dreams and encouraging me. She actually still models for me at 75, which is pretty badass, it’s pretty cool and it’s brought us a lot closer too which is cool, and I think Evelynn, it’s a classic, simple name that’s going to keep coming back, but I just like it,” Snobelen said.

The designs from Evelynn are one of a kind, since Snobelen tends to make only two to three items of any given garment. She also tends to stick away from solid colours, and goes more towards bright patterns.

“I do stick to my own [thing], I do a little bit of trends research. Having your own business, if your competitor is making something better than you or you’re not on trend, likely you’re not going to sell what you made, so it’s important to be somewhat on trend, but I like things that make you stand out so it doesn’t always matter to me if you’re on trend, but within reason of course,” Snobelen said. “I don’t like to be like all the other designers, I do things a lot differently than I think other designers would.”

Snobelen said she also tends to work in a different way than most designers, since she will look for fabric first, then make her creations, while in school she was taught the opposite.

“I’ll be inspired by a print or a fabric and design something from that. So it makes things a bit more difficult because you don’t know how much fabric you’re going to need, but I mean I’ve always been inspired by bright colours and crazy prints, stuff that makes you stand out so that’s kind of where my mind goes when I design,” Snobelen said.

Snobelen also admires fellow Canadian designer David Dixon.

On top of designing for her website, Snobelen created the Abby Fund which she began in 2015. The concept includes Snobelen bringing to life drawings and original design creations of kids who are ill and in the hospital.

There is also a fashion show in Blenheim which will be in its third year this coming June, to also support the cause and up to this date has raised almost $10,000.

“What I love about it is just it’s taking the kids out of their situation for a moment and you don’t really realize how much you take for granted unless you’re in the situation that they’re in. But it’s just so awesome seeing their faces light up. I think it’s just so inspiring,” Snobelen said.

Snobelen is also no stranger to bringing her creations to pop up shops around the city, since that’s where she tends to make most of her sales, and is debating in the future of whether she will have a physical store, on top of her online store, to better satisfy customers.

With all of her success thus far, Snobelen’s family, friends and boyfriend are supportive of her work, which she appreciates. She also enjoys being in London rather than a bigger city, since it feels more personable and she’s been able to network quite a bit.

Being an advocate for Fanshawe, Snobelen comes back to campus whenever she can and is featured in the college’s Your Story campaign and video.

Snobelen also has advice for students, future designers and entrepreneurs. Snobelen recommends students should listen to what professors say about making sure they design for their customers.

“So if you’re going to start your own business, you got to get that mindset completely changed. It was hard for me too because I don’t really like the solid colours or the soft colours , so it’s kind of hard sometimes to design, but I mean if you want to sell a product you have to make sure that you’re attracting all of your customers’ wants, and it’s kind of hard to do sometimes,” Snobelen said.

Snobelen also said to never give up, even when it gets tough, and you are your main cheerleader kicking yourself into gear.

“It’s just a matter of staying focused and staying inspired too. I feel like if you’re given all these tasks, work, assignments and stuff you get overwhelmed and you just want to give up, but you just have to power through and persevere and you’ll make it through,” Snobelen said. “Dream, believe, inspire and keep going.”



CREDIT SHANNON MCCABE OF DIAMOND STUDIOS: Fanshawe fashion design graduate Nicole Snobelen has gone on to great success by being an entrepreneur and creating Evelynn, an online boutique.