By Tiffany Feng
Staff Writer
Drawing creative inspiration from social media, Mira Costa juniors Morgan Clark and Aidan Dunne launched their own clothing company in late August of 2016.
Clark and Dunne worked together to create their clothing company Adolescence and Instagram account @Adolescencemb that features 90s inspired clothing and apparel. Clark said two came together after they found a mutual fascination with fashion and that they immediately planned to create their business.
“At first Aidan and I would see things on social media and other platforms that we thought were cool and we both realized we have the same interest in fashion,” Morgan Clarke said. “I guess our styles really clicked and we were able to collaborate more easily and because he is a good friend of mine, it just seemed natural that we would try to create this company.”
Photos: Costa students put together a clothing company with 90s inspired apparel
Clark and Dunne said they were inspired to create Adolescence after being more exposed to the fashion accounts on Instagram. Instagram is a mobile app that allows its users to share images and videos either publicly or privately, based on their preference. The two said that through Instagram they were able to experience fashion outside of their immediate communities and discover their own unique interests.
Link: Visit @adolescencemb on Instagram
“Coming into high school I wore pretty much middle school attire like board shorts and other surf brands such as Spyder and Hurley and I was just honestly getting really bored of it because everybody was wearing it,” Aidan Dunne said. “When I was exposed to more Instagram users’ styles of fashion, I was able to see and get ideas of what all these different people were wearing and got inspiration from that.”
To promote their apparel, Clark and Dunne asked junior photographer Jesse Padveen to capture images of student models wearing their clothes which were then uploaded to the company’s instagram, @adolescencemb. Padveen is a photographer who takes photos that says he feels show Manhattan Beach and other Southern California locations in unique and new ways. Being a friend of Clarke and Dunne, he says he was happy to be able to help and contribute to the company by managing the photography aspect of it.
Link: Learn more about Jesse Padveen’s journey
“Working with them was a great experience because they knew exactly what they wanted, which made the photo-taking process run very smoothly,” Padveen said. “I think that it is great that they started this business, especially at their age. They’re taking initiative in something they love, which is admirable.”
Clark and Dunne created their apparel by shopping in thrift shops and finding unique vintage pieces that they would then customize and resell. Their first item was a thrifted jean jacket that was revamped by junior Renee Boettner and then modeled by junior Breegan Knudson.
“I love the jacket I modeled and got from them and I’m pretty good friends with Morgan, so it was a really fun process,” Knudson said. “I think it is really cool that they had the idea to make clothing that was their style and then actually ended up making it into something real.”
Adolescence was discontinued during the first semester due to the lack of funding, which did not allow for the company to take off. In addition to the lack of funds, it was difficult for Clark and Dunne to integrate it into their schedule of school and sports, especially being juniors, Clark says. Though the company could not flourish, the two have plans for future posts on their Instagram page where they hope to present images displaying their own unique personal styles and ideas.
“We just really wanted to print our designs on clothing items and get our ideas out but we didn’t have enough funding to really make it happen,” Aidan Dunne said. “I would for sure want to do it again but next time with proper funding and if we came together with other people with similar interests in fashion we could really get started.”
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