Meet Melissa, the designer behind Pink Revolver. She is great to talk to, funny and down to earth. You can find her jewelry and vintage inspired designs at the shop. Read on to find out how she got started, what she thinks of Des Moines, and what she’ll be up to next with Pink Revolver.
Introduce yourself
My name is Melissa Speridon. I am
from Minnesota, grew up there. I went to a 2 year school in Minneapolis and
took the design program there. I have always loved fashion. I have always
aspired to do something artistic and make it into a career. I fell into that
program and it taught me the basics of everything I needed to know to get
started. It really groomed people into becoming small designers. All the
professors there were doing something within the industry. I came to Iowa a few
years later and fell into a vintage store. That kind of molded my design ideas
and helped me find out what kind of niche I wanted to go into. Later, I met
Julie and business ideas kept coming up. We kept pushing each other and it just
kind of happened. It evolved from a tiny booth in the east village to our store,
Vitae Design Collective.
How did you get started?
I came up with the label first.
Everything I like to do has a rough but feminine edge. Sometimes it is a little
loud, but essentially wearable, nothing too crazy. I remember sitting around
with my boyfriend and came up with the label name. It just made sense to me.
Pink Revolver. It just came from there. I love a lot of fabrics from the 60s
and 70s. I love that whole era of freedom, the movements, and experimentations.
I was always drawn to that. That is how my designs are influenced.
