Stefanie Ayoub is a talented, Toronto-based fashion design gem. With a family background peppered with artistic types, the young designer started off at an arts high school with dreams of becoming a fine artist. While illustration was her first love, she soon realised that her drawings tended towards clothing, and she made a natural transition into fashion design. Ayoub graduated from Ryerson University studying Fashion Design and also spent six weeks studying with the Arts of Fashion Foundation at the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs in Paris. Joel Yum spoke to Ayoub recently about her inspirations, discovering creative freedom in Paris and her plans for a no-rule future. Joel Yum: I imagine that studying fashion in Toronto is quite different to studying it in Paris - how did the two experiences differ? Did it make you reevaluate your outlook on fashion - life, even? Stefanie Ayoub: Ryerson, and Toronto in general I think, takes a very practical approach to design. It's really all about being an apparel constructor. Considering I didn't know the first thing about sewing, Ryerson gave me all those crucial technical tools. But a lot of the time, I felt like I was missing out on the creative process. There were so many rules about what you can and can't do, what's practical, what's marketable. When I went to Paris, I learned the value of having a completely open mind to the vastness of possibilities in designing. First ideas are never the best ones and designs should waver