Wear the Art, Make the Music: on Creativity, Confidence and Embracing the Imperfect

Through the Creative Door with Evie Lucas

Some creatives find their passion and spend their lives perfecting it. Others find a hundred passions and somehow manage to make them all work together.

When I stepped through Evie's creative door, I was greeted by glittering jackets, colourful fabrics, plants, a keyboard and what she affectionately calls organised chaos. And I loved every bit of it.

Evie is a musician, singer, songwriter, teacher and wearable art creator whose imagination seems to have absolutely no intention of slowing down.

But what began as a conversation about music and outrageously fabulous tinsel jackets quickly became something much bigger.

A conversation about creative identity, financial survival, family heritage, perfectionism and why sometimes the most important thing we can do as artists is give ourselves permission to be a little bit rubbish. Creativity isn't always about getting it right. Sometimes it's about being brave enough to begin.

When one creative passion helps fund another

One of the things I love about Evie's creative journey is how naturally her different passions have begun supporting one another.

Like many independent musicians, Evie knows that making music doesn't necessarily mean making enough money to live. 

So she started thinking differently.

What if she could create something that helped fund her music?

Enter the tinsel jacket.

Bright, bold, glittery and practically demanding that you shimmy the moment you put one on.

What started as an idea for handmade merchandise evolved into a wearable art business, creating statement pieces for performers, festivalgoers and anyone who wants to feel a little more extraordinary.

But Evie's vision goes beyond jackets. She's dreaming up embellished raincoats, intricate beading, sequins and increasingly outrageous designs that bring art into everyday life.

And it's already creating opportunities. The income from her jackets helped fund her journey to Latvia, where she participated in a choir and reconnected with her family's heritage.

One creative pursuit was helping make another possible.

Sometimes building a sustainable creative life isn't about choosing one passion.

It's about finding ways for them to work together.

Organised chaos is still a creative space

When I asked Evie what a creative space means to her, she explained that the environment needs to feel right before she can properly settle into creating. Looking around her room, I could understand why.

Fabric everywhere.

Sewing equipment.

Plants.

Musical instruments.

A television ready to play Kath & Kim or Will & Grace while she works.

What was originally intended to be a dining room has become a space that better reflects how she and her partner actually live. Evie knows where everything is, even if someone else might struggle to find a particular piece of wire buried in a drawer.

It's organised chaos.

But it's her organised chaos.

And that's what matters.

There's something wonderful about recognising that our homes don't have to follow conventional rules. If a dining room would serve you better as a sewing studio, why not?

Creative spaces should reflect the people creating within them. Not someone else's idea of how a room should look.

From handmade jackets to international stages

When I asked Evie which creative achievement she was most proud of, she didn't immediately name a song or an album. Instead, she spoke about how all her creative pursuits were finally beginning to come together.

And then she shared a rather incredible story…

One day, a stylist contacted her through Instagram, interested in purchasing one of her pink trench coats.

At first, Evie didn't think too much of it.

She answered the questions, checked the sizing and arranged the shipping.

Then she discovered the stylist had worked with major international performers.

And eventually, she found out where her jacket was going.

Onto the stage with Bebe Rexha.

Yes, that Bebe Rexha - American singer-songwriter. A handmade piece of wearable art, created in Evie's own studio, had made its way onto stages across the United States.

And the most beautiful part?

Evie didn't have to be the person performing.

Her art was doing that for her.

She also spoke about seeing her jackets worn by brides and drag performers, each bringing their own personality and confidence to the pieces.

That's what she wants her wearable art to do.

Not simply make someone look different.

Make them feel different.

More confident.

More expressive.

More themselves.

Because sometimes what we wear can become an extension of who we are.

The reality of making art while paying the bills

Of course, behind all the glitter and creative excitement sits a reality that most independent artists know far too well.

Life is expensive.

And creativity needs time.

Evie spoke honestly about balancing singing lessons, performances, creative projects and the financial pressures of everyday life. The gig economy offers flexibility, but it doesn't always offer stability.

A cancelled lesson can mean lost income.

An unexpected expense can derail creative plans.

And sometimes, after spending all day earning enough to survive, there's very little energy left for the work you actually want to make.

Evie shared her experience of trying a conventional full-time job, hoping she could use her evenings to create.

Instead, she found herself exhausted and deeply unhappy.

It was a reminder that what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another.

We also spoke about the different seasons of creativity…

Sometimes we're writing.

Sometimes we're recording.

Sometimes we're performing.

And sometimes we're simply trying to keep everything afloat. Not every season needs to produce a finished project. But finding the space to create remains one of the biggest challenges. Especially when you're someone who wants to say yes to absolutely everything.

And believe me, I understand that one!!!

The things we inherit are more than objects

One of the most touching moments in our conversation came when I asked Evie whether there was something she couldn't create without.

Rather than pointing to an expensive piece of equipment, she spoke about the sentimental objects surrounding her.

A plant grown from a cutting connected to her late mother. Her mother's sewing machines. Threads and materials inherited from her family, some of which have found their way into jackets now being worn by other people. These aren't simply tools or decorations.

They're connections.

To family.

To memory.

To identity.

Evie also reflected on her Latvian heritage and the experiences of previous generations who lived through displacement, political upheaval and the need to conceal parts of their identity.

For her family, practical skills represented something deeply important.

Something that couldn't easily be taken away.

The ability to make, repair, learn and adapt.

And perhaps that's why creating with her hands carries meaning beyond the finished object.

Every stitch becomes part of a much longer story.

One that connects generations.

Give yourself permission to be a bit shit

Towards the end of our conversation, Evie offered a piece of advice that I think every creative needs to hear.

Give yourself permission to be a bit shit.

And I absolutely love that.

Because how often do we stop ourselves from making something simply because we're worried it won't be good enough?

Evie spoke about her first tinsel jacket.

It's not for sale.

Why?

Because it wasn't particularly good.

But without that first jacket, there wouldn't have been a second.

Or a third.

Or a pink trench coat travelling across America on an international tour.

The same applies to music.

Songwriting.

Learning an instrument.

Painting.

Anything creative.

You have to make the imperfect things to develop the skills that eventually allow you to make the extraordinary ones.

Evie reflected on her piano lessons, where she sometimes feels frustrated by her progress. Even when she's struggling, she's learning. Those small improvements count.

And as she beautifully pointed out, you're only at square one once.

Every attempt moves you forward.

Make something outrageous

Another idea that stayed with me came from a quote Evie keeps on her wall, inspired by British artist Sue Austin.

Austin is known for multimedia, performances and installations, transforming perceptions of disability through her extraordinary underwater wheelchair performances.

Evie was particularly drawn to the idea that art can challenge identity and expectation by taking something familiar and presenting it in a completely unexpected way.

And isn't that exactly what creativity does?

It asks us to look again.

To question what we think we know.

To imagine something that hasn't existed before.

For Evie, wearable art offers that opportunity.

A jacket doesn't have to be just a jacket.

It can be a performance.

A statement.

A celebration.

An invitation to become a little more outrageous than you might normally allow yourself to be.

And perhaps that's something we could all use a little more of.

You don't need to know everything before you start

One final theme running through our conversation was the value of learning as you go.

Evie has developed many of her creative skills through a combination of formal study, online tutorials, experimentation and asking other people for help.

Sometimes that means watching a short video to work out how to thread a sewing machine.

Sometimes it's learning a new technique from someone with years of experience.

Sometimes it's recording vocals on a phone or creating a music video using freely available footage and a projector.

The important thing isn't having access to the most expensive equipment.

It's being willing to try.

To collect little pieces of knowledge.

To experiment with what you have.

And to recognise that you don't need to master every part of the process before you're allowed to create something.

Because creativity isn't reserved for experts.

It's available to anyone willing to give it a go.

Final Thoughts

Spending time with Evie reminded me that creativity doesn't have to fit neatly into one category.

You can be a musician and a designer.

A teacher and a performer.

A maker and a dreamer.

You can build something with your hands that helps fund something you create with your voice.

And you can bring every one of those experiences together to make something entirely your own.

But perhaps the most important lesson is that none of it has to be perfect.

Not the first jacket.

Not the first song.

Not the first attempt at something completely unfamiliar because every creative journey begins somewhere.

Sometimes the greatest thing we can do is stop worrying about whether we're good enough and simply give ourselves permission to make something.

Something weird.

Something wonderful.

Something gloriously imperfect.

And if it happens to be covered in glitter?

Even better.

a x

Listen to the full conversation with Evie on Through the Creative Door, S1. E12, where we explore wearable art, music, family heritage, creative confidence, financial realities and why embracing imperfection might just be the secret to creating something extraordinary.