From Indigo to Ebony, Mary Imaj provides the fashion world with loud and trendy statement pieces for the catwalk or the sidewalk. While each piece has its own uniqueness, the story behind its creation is even more fascinating.

Talking with Mary, the owner and creator of the brand Mary Imaj, she revealed that growing up she always admired her brother’s sense of style, but was never able to flourish in her own clothes, as her style was muted by her everyday uniform for her Catholic all-girls school. Eventually, when she entered her college years she found her love for putting an outfit together.

“I just started putting on clothes and dressing how what felt fitting to me”, says Mary.

With one look on her brand’s website, it is evident that Mary found a passion for creating large, puffer statement bags. Her love for bags stems from her childhood, where she remembers her mom always having a collection of purses. “One of my aunts, she would come over all the time, and whenever I had a purse, she would give me money, so I always had a purse on me,” she said.

Later in life, when she got tired of buying from “boring”, name-brand stores, she decided to start creating her own pieces under the name Mary Imaj, which honors her late mother, whose name was Jami (Imaj reversed).

“I’m not gonna keep buying things that don’t last, or are not eye appealing, so I needed to do something else.”

The puffer bags are not the only unique quality of this brand, but her choice of product name has a very interesting back story. For instance, her first bag, Indigo, came when “I was scrolling on Twitter one day and saw the name Indigo and thought ‘oh, this name’s iconic’... whatever I do, Indigo will be the name.”

The bags that followed came with equally unique names, all rooted in her feelings when creating them. “I kind of related it to how I felt,” she said. “I have this one orange tote that is the same style as “Indigo”, and I named it “Haze” because it gives me a golden feel.”

The best choice of name and the reasoning behind it has to be her clogs, with the name Chloé. “I loved Bratz growing up and Chloé had this one cow print outfit and I just loved it.”

Most of what Mary creates appeals to her own attitude and style. For instance, she made the Chloé shoe into a clog because she does not wear sneakers, only shoes like clogs and slides. “This is what I wear every day,” she said.

Since her brand matches her own style, it is not a surprise that her clothes are equally loud and colorful.

“I get described as Little Bill because I wear so many colors and I am a colorful, bright person,” she said. “I would describe my style as colorful like Little Bill.”

In lieu of her 21st birthday, Mary exclaimed that she is excited about a future idea for her brand that involves quotes from her friends on tank tops, which she will drop with the title “My 21st Era” tee line. “I get a lot of inspiration from my friends, and I want to drop a line of tanks with their sayings that resonate with me,” she said.

However, nothing is being rushed to her website, as she admitted her attitude about creating her pieces is laid back.

“Forcing anything for me will not work, I will just shut down, so I’ll create when I feel like I have the energy.”

Even with a breezy attitude, Mary finds inspiration from just about anything. “I sketch on my iPad, and I haven’t touched my iPad in like a month,” she said. “But one day I’ll go outside, and I’ll be walking and think ‘oh, with this color I could do this’ or ‘oh my gosh this print has to go on something.’”

While her passion lies with loud and unique statement pieces, from her puffer totes to her button handbags, her career goals lie in another field.

“Everyone thinks that my major is fashion design, but my major was early childhood development and I just changed it to psychology because I think I want to be a child therapist,” she said. “I love kids, they are my passion, I want to make clothes for kids.”

Fashion may just be her hobby, but she is definitely putting her degree to good use by providing retail therapy to so many style gurus out there.

“This was never in the plan, it really just happened over quarantine, and now we’re here and I am very surprised.”