Kalispell designer joins Paris fashion company

The path from the Flathead Valley to a position among the elites of the fashion industry in Paris wasn’t well-laid for local fashion professional Rebecca Ostrom. She had to design it herself.

Fortunately, design is an area where the budding fashion guru has some serious expertise. She starts her new job in Paris this week with years of experience under her belt, from studying fashion to working as a designer.

“I’ve never been able to do the traditional route,” Ostrom said as she reflected on the circuitous journey that led to her upcoming start as the senior lingerie designer at French clothier Etam.

Ostrom grew up in Kalispell and tapped into three local schools to find the best fit for her creative interests. She expressed an affinity for clothes at an early age, but she didn’t consider a career as a designer to be her prototypical “dream job” until much later.

First, Ostrom would have to venture out to gain a broader view of the opportunities available beyond the mountains that enclose the Flathead Valley.

She remembered feeling a little like an outsider in her hometown during her childhood because she was more interested in ballet than bears.

“Growing up, I was never really into the Montana activities,” she recalled. “I had to find other things…but there wasn’t much.”

She eventually left for Portland, where she studied marketing at the Art Institute. But Ostrom continued feeling unfulfilled until she switched to studying fashion design. “That’s when everything came to life,” she said.

THAT FIRST foray into fashion launched Ostrom’s career, which has led her to companies and locales she never anticipated during her childhood in Kalispell. It’s been an unpredictable and exciting journey for Ostrom, who — like her fashion-forward lingerie designs — embraces change with enthusiasm, not hesitation.

At age 24, Ostrom crossed the country from Portland to New York City to continue her fashion studies. She acknowledged she got a later start in the business than most. “It took a long time,” she pointed out.

But the ladder to success in the fashion industry isn’t climbed by simply going hand-over-hand until you reach the top.

“With a lawyer or a doctor there are written steps to take,” Ostrom said. In fashion, advancement is more like navigating a set of crisscrossing escalators, with no clear destination at the end. Rather than committing to checking off the requirements for earning a doctorate or landing a position at a law firm, design professionals need to be “patient” and “a little bit reckless,” according to Ostrom.

That approach led Ostrom to her first internship in London, where she eventually cut out her niche in high-end lingerie design. Ostrom remembers telling her mother in Kalispell, whom she credits with supporting all of her pursuits, no matter how avant-garde, how she landed the three-month position before flying off to Europe. In reality, she had only been guaranteed a trial day to prove herself to the British company. Ostrom’s mother didn’t know she could expect her daughter back much sooner than the anticipated three-month-stay.

But the enterprising and adventurous Ostrom made the most of her single opportunity, and the expected three months doubled into an international experience that lasted half a year. After making the cut for the internship, Ostrom fulfilled her three months learning the intricacies of lingerie design. In the process, she unexpectedly found herself falling in love with the precise work of designing straps, bows, lace and other minute details of lingerie.

“It’s super detailed and intricate,” Ostrom said. “It’s almost architectural, a lot of the times. That was a lot more appealing to me than, like, drawing a T-shirt.”

She said she soon embraced the challenges and advantages she discovered in lingerie design.

“Weirdly, there’s a lot more creative freedom. There are all these crazy little puzzle pieces that go together,” she said.

Once she found her forte in lingerie, Ostrom spent another three months working in a hostel and traveling around Europe, gaining the international experience she now expects to help her adjust to her new life in Paris.

OSTROM THEN returned stateside and became only the sixth person hired onto the Savage x Fenty line in Los Angeles, a lingerie startup headed by pop singer Rihanna. She worked there for two years, sometimes working as many as 20 hours per day—flying to London for photo shoots or jetting down to Mexico to meet with Rihanna.

“I really got to see and do everything,” Ostrom recalled. “I think the job with Rihanna kind of prepared me for anything.”

Anything except a pandemic. Ostrom was in the process of preparing to move to Paris for the Etam opening when the COVID-19 outbreak started shutting down international travel. “I wasn’t sure if I still had a job,” she said.

That uncertainty would last for many more months before Ostrom got the go-ahead from the company and the countries’ respective governments. She finally flew out in mid-October, and today is her first day in her new position at Etam.

THE PROCESS has been long and bumpy, but Ostrom is as excited as ever to get to work.

“I’m not nervous at all,” she said before her long-awaited flight. “I’m really, really excited.”

Ostrom doesn’t speak French, and she even admitted she was turned off by Paris the first time she visited. She added, too, that it’s rare to find any other Montanans in the fashion industry, especially in France.

But none of the obstacles she’s faced or the potential challenges ahead have dimmed Ostrom’s passion for what lies in front of her. She hopes her work with Etam will eventually set her up to reach her end goal: creative director for a fashion publication or a luxury brand.

Even while some might see her bold career choice as courageous, Ostrom insisted, “I’m truly more reckless than brave.”

Channeling a more traditional Montana attitude, she added, “It’s worked out so far. Don’t fix something if it’s not broken.”

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at (406)-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.