With multiple fashion lines, a boutique and a part-time marketing job, local fashion designer Rachel Marie Hurst is busy. She admits she has a bit of a "squirrel" tendency when it comes to her attention span, seeing inspiration and ideas in everything that could fall into one of her many creative outlets.
"It's like I'm here, and here, and here! I know not everyone works that way. I wish I had a regular schedule sometimes, but I find that batching tasks helps," she says. "You gotta find your groove."
As she prepares for two shows for Denver Fashion Week, showing styled looks from her M.Bolden Boutique for Society Night on Thursday, May 15 and then her custom, unconventional bridal wear for Bridal Night on Saturday, May 17, she hopes to show her diverse strengths.
Hurst, who has lived in Denver from a young age, says she didn't start out knowing she had such a strong creative side. She originally went to CU Boulder hoping to get into med school and become a doctor for a "financially stable career." But she found her heart wasn't in it. When a group of artistic friends asked if she would be interested in starting a fashion group, it lit a new passion, and she started designing costumes for the school's theatre department, which she did in a haute couture style.
Hurst then worked in retail clothing stores but wanted something of her own. She's now been designing clothes for 16 years and has shown multiple times at Denver Fashion Week. She also opened the M.Bolden Boutique a few years ago and is moving it to a new Glendale location this month, starting with pop-up events for people to shop her runway pieces, and then a full-scale opening in June.
If that's not enough, Hurst also has a part-time job doing marketing for an attorney's office. She says keeping up her marketing chops also helps her promote her brand. She's clearly done the market research to know her audience. "My customer is someone who isn't trendy. She's aged 30 to 50 and is looking for those special curated custom pieces. She wants to create her own personal style and loves to dress bold and for herself."
Hurst says she loves seeing the strong women who work in the legal world. "Their suits and the shoulders have definitely inspired me. I've incorporated that subtly into my designs."
She hopes that with diversified creative and income streams, she can easily pivot with whatever the future holds, especially considering the current economic situation. The Business of Fashion reports that the tariffs on China and the end of the "de minimis loophole," which allowed duty-free entry for small packages (under $800), has left fashion brands scrambling to reconfigure supply chains and pricing strategies.
"There's a lot of uncertainty. For now, I have the boutique; I can sew; we have fabric," says Hurst.
She plans to work around the tariffs by using garments she already has and redesigning the fabric into new items. "We have clients who are always asking what's new, and I tell them, we have some great pieces right here. But because fast fashion always advertises what's new, people are groomed to think they need the newest thing. We plan to repurpose pieces from the boutique that haven't sold and cut down on waste."
As for the inventory she buys for the boutique, she knows it will likely become more costly.
"We're seeing an increase in pricing for sure. We hope that downsizing our space can help offset passing the costs to our consumers. As a small, women- and Black-owned business, it's already a hard field to compete in. We don't have access and entry into the retail world like others do. But I remain hopeful that these changes we're moving toward will help us stay afloat."
Hurst says the goal for M. Bolden is to give people a more personalized shopping and styling experience and to do pop-ups for various collections, such as her runway looks for Denver Fashion Week in May. She also plans to have separate rooms and sections for the different collections:
Rachel Marie Hurst (RMH): Custom, ethically-made fashion designs created to empower women to "dare to be seen."
Bridal: One-of-a-kind and custom wedding dresses, specializing in non-traditional styles and colors.
Alter Époque (coming soon): Upcycled pieces with reclaimed fabrics from overlooked garments and vintage treasures.
M. Bolden: A select inventory of stylish clothing and accessories for shoppers who want to express themselves boldly through fashion. Includes the "MB Experience" of styling sessions, subscription boxes and a rewards program.
Hurst says many of her brands overlap, which allows her to use her fashion design skills across the board. "We buy for M.Bolden months in advance, and you can't return many pieces. So we might get it and find it's not the quality I want for my client. Because I'm a designer, I can fix things, evolve them and give them a new story."
Hurst hopes the new store will be a central hub for the brands to feed into each other and provide a place for more events. The space has more visibility from the street and parking lot than her previous location and space in front to potentially host outdoor events, hopefully bringing in more people.
"I love meeting the women who become my clients. When they get to know you, you make something for them, and they love it. That's the magic. It's the best feeling for both of us — that we connected."
Denver Fashion Week
Denver Fashion Week is Colorado's largest fashion event, happening spring and fall each year. This year's spring fashion week runs from Saturday, May 10 to Sunday, May 18. The showcase is a platform for emerging designers, local boutiques, national brands and more.Denver Fashion Week opens with a Sustainable Fashion Show on May 10 and includes events on streetwear, maximalism, swimwear and more throughout the week.
Find the full schedule and get tickets at denverfashionweek.com.
M.Bolden will show at DFW Society Night, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 15, and RMH Bridal will show at DFW Bridal Night, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17. Both events are at the Brighton, 3403 Brighton Boulevard. Find the full schedule and tickets at denverfashionweek.com. M.Bolden's new location is 4340 East Kentucky Avenue, #138 in Glendale; the store will have pop-up events on May 31 and June 1. Learn more on the store's website.
