Alumni Profile: Jessilyn Poole

Jessilyn Poole is a graduate from MC College Edmonton’s Fashion Design program. Fresh out of school and driven by her dedication for “carefully curated” clothing pieces, she founded EVE + ENOCH in 2011.From clean lines to flirty silhouettes, she describes the contemporary clothing line as “very wearable and comfortable. It’s trendy, but… will last and transition into several seasons”. As a Canadian Fashion Designer, she is an advocate of shopping local, “I want to create clothing in my city because…people have become disconnected in retail…if you put a face behind it, you can make them realize what they’re buying and make more conscious decisions” she says.

From sewing with a needle and thread at 5 years old to mastering the sewing machine at 7, her career in Fashion started at a young age. “I’ve always dreamed about design for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I lived in a world of scissors and construction paper. Later, I played with fabric to create clothing” says Jessilyn. After designing and constructing her High School graduation dress, Jessilyn decided to make her dream career as a Fashion Designer a reality, and enroll in a Fashion program. MC College Edmonton was the right place for her as it offered everything that she was looking for: internship opportunities, clothing line and collection development, fashion marketing, and more.

We asked her: what was your favorite part of the course?
The New Designers Fashion Show. “It was cool to be able to show friends and family what I had designed and created. This part was helpful in showing me what fashion shows looks like and what is needed to organize one”.

As a designer and entrepreneur, her biggest eye opener was the amount of blood, sweat and tears that was put into starting a clothing line: from business loans and sourcing local materials to creating an e-commerce website. Her advice to current and prospective MC College fashion students is to be ready to live, “eat” and breathe fashion, “Be sure you’re ready to dedicate all your time. Take a little time each day…to clear your head, and get inspired and get new ideas outside of your routine”.

Today, EVE + ENOCH is available online (eveandenoch.com) and at Bamboo Ballroom. Jessilyn’s goal is to sell her designs in retail stores across Canada and expand her production studio.