Nina Tulieva, a junior studying apparel entrepreneurship at BYU-Idaho, expressed that there’s confusion surrounding the term “FCS apparel entrepreneurship” and what it involves.

She was researching for a major before she came to BYU-I — She didn’t know what she wanted to study. 

When she took a sewing class upon arriving at BYU-I, she discovered that she could turn her passion into a career.

“The whole major is called apparel entrepreneurship, not fashion design something,” Tulieva said. “That was exciting.”

Tulieva is interested in women’s wear, like high fashion, rather than casual wear, sportswear and athletic wear. She appreciates the arts of other clothing styles, but she prefers women’s fashion.

“I want to focus on making it durable and charging people for what it’s worth, — not just mass-produced,” Tulieva said. “I see how much work it takes to make one piece of clothing, and it baffles me. It’s cheaper to buy something in the store than to buy the fabric and make it yourself.”

“Sustainability is a byproduct of you trying to keep durable fashion.”

Tulieva is interested in creating clothing that represents her culture. She was born in Ukraine and lived there until she was eight. Her family migrated to Montreal, Quebec — the French-speaking part of Canada. She went to a French high school, and all her classmates and teachers spoke French. For 11 years, she witnessed all the French architecture Quebec has to offer.

“My style is mostly just European. I suggest Eastern European style, mixed with a little North American,” Tulieva said.

Tulieva served her mission in France.

“It was inspiring to see people are not afraid to overdress like there’s no such thing as a stereotype,” Tulieva said. “You can see people’s personalities shine when they dress and let the fashion speak for itself.” 

The biggest culture shock for Tulieva after studying at BYU-I was people not wanting to dress up. Everyone has their style, which causes her to question herself. Did she overdress? She always converses with herself and decides to keep dressing and being herself. Standing out from everyone else, she forges her own identity. 

“Just to be myself,” Tulieva said. “I have a fur coat that I wear in the winter. It was my mom’s Ukrainian coat from when she was young. She gave it to me, so for me, it’s really precious.” 

Tulieva believes that people should be themselves, unapologetically.