We caught up with Jessica Jaramillo, a dynamic model and sustainable fashion designer. Jessica’s journey began as a bid for self-acceptance, evolving from runner-up in a local modeling contest to crafting unique, eco-friendly designs. Her work with Playboy marked a milestone in her career. Jessica’s creativity shines in her vintage reselling and humorous online content. In this exclusive interview, she opens up about her passion for fashion, sustainability, and her dreams for the future.
Honestly, my interest in modeling came from being called ugly as a human larvae. I was extremely unpopular in school and I wanted a shortcut to being liked or to being perceived as beautiful. I initially got my foot in the door by winning runner up in a local modeling competition and started working with local photographers and doing back-to-school fashion shows when I was 18. Now I do it because I love the process of turning myself into different characters and documenting outfits I really like, especially if I made them.
Clothes make up the largest portion of trash in landfills and I wanted to inspire people to find creative ways to change that. I recycle obsessively and I do everything I can to make my carbon footprint as small as possible. Every garment I make is made of 75% - 100% recycled fabric that I harvest myself albeit from thrifting or from getting hand me downs. I try to get more and more ambitious with each design in an effort to challenge myself; whether it be cutting spare fabric into smaller pieces to create filler to create an interesting shape for a bag, using random spare beads to embroider from thrifted jewelry or my ancient beading kit that I've had since I was seven, making corsets out of scrap fabric, recycled hardware and different kinds of things that would otherwise just be thrown away.
I started officially selling when I was in school in an effort to have passive income to buy more clothes, books, makeup, and magazines. I genuinely don’t put a whole lot of effort into curating my collection honestly. I mostly just resell things that I love but don’t have the ability to wear anymore because it’s just no longer a style that I relate to, it doesn’t fit, I’ve worn it so much that I’m ready to give it a new home or I bought it for a shoot and I simply just don’t see myself wearing it outside of the shoot.
Modeling for Playboy has made me proud of being a pinup girl. It’s given me the opportunity to be an active participant in how I want my version of ‘sexy’ to be marketed. Before I would have to rely exclusively on the willingness of photographers to pay me to shoot but Playboy has given me the privilege of not always having to wait for someone to hand me a check because I can now work for the amount of money I want to make.
I start off by compulsively sorting all of the garments and scraps I accumulate into boxes; one box is for practical garments that I don’t want to cut up so I donate them to charity, one is packed into a For Days recycling bag (one for cotton and one for synthetic fabric), one for reselling, one for scrap fabric I plan on reusing, and one for whole garments that I plan on recycling/customizing/flipping into a whole other piece. I get most of my inspiration via Instagram/pinterest/depop/youtube/movies/books. I tend to start off by ‘Frankenstein-ing’ scrap fabric together; taking some pants and turning the legs into sleeves or making a whole new sheet of fabric by sewing scraps together or kind of sort of ‘quilting’ it to create a new texture. If I’m making a bag that calls for an interesting shape, I’ll literally cut the structure from cleaned plastic containers that were originally used to hold laundry detergent or even spare Tupperware that’s missing a lid.
I love to laugh and to make others laugh. It’s important to me for people to see that I’m more than just makeup and clothes.
I believe that my painting is psychologically separate from my work in fashion. I feel as if my fashion illustrates who I want to be and my art illustrates who/what I am influenced by or who I actually am whether I want to be that person or not.
I have three! A little black cat named Ozzy who loves to cuddle and play with hair ties, a fat tabby named Jumanji who’s very mischievous and food motivated, and Vivienne who I believe is a golden retriever/lab mix. I found her in the trash at my previous night job almost two years ago and she’s been the sweetest dog I’ve ever had.
My biggest challenge in the fashion industry is honestly just navigating it. It’s riddled with scammers and predators and that’s something that isn’t talked about enough. I’ve been fortunate to not have had many experiences within the industry itself that were too extreme however I’ve had a number of close calls. My advice to anyone who is interested in working in the industry is BE VIGILANT, read all contracts put in front of you, and trust your gut when you feel uncomfortable. Also don’t choose this industry specifically to make money or get famous, make sure you choose it because you love it.
Honestly, to just keep documenting outfits and looks that I love simply because I love to do so and to evolve my skills so I can help the environment on a larger scale and be more ambitious with my art. I’d like to open a physical store or an official fashion haus one day but I want to always be sure I stay within the realm of sustainability.
