About |
The Unfinished Wings Project began in the darkest moments of Mandy’s battle with suicidality, depression, and anxiety. In the midst of overwhelming pain, she found herself reimagining used, clearance or thrifted dresses—transforming them into something new, symbolically giving them “new life” yet each piece intentionally unfinished, just like her own journey. “These dresses are highly symbolic of my own story. They are impractical pieces of art that helped me turn my thoughts to seeking light and creating beauty during really dark and terrifying times.”
The project started unintentionally during a suicidal episode where she had a powerful image of wings come to her mind. “I felt like I couldn’t leave this earth until I finished my wings,” she shares. After several days of working non stop, she finished the front of the wings, then she says. “I felt lighter, and a desire to share the light I felt with others. Then I realized… maybe they were never meant to be finished.” And she left the wings unfinished as a reminder to herself and others that she still had work to do on the earth, she wasn’t finished. Similar to the semicolon some have tattooed to remind them that their story isn’t finished either.
But her struggles didn’t end there. Each dress in the collection is created in her very darkest times, often when she is battling suicidality, and so each dress tells a powerful story of perseverance, a visual representation of the ongoing struggle so many face- but rarely speak about. Through this project, Mandy is creating space for those who feel unseen, proving that beauty can exist even in brokenness, that survival itself is an art form. “I want to help those who don’t understand these types of struggles to have their eyes opened to those around them, who, like me unfortunately do understand them. And I want those who struggle with suicidality to know that they aren’t alone, that there is hope and light does come.”
Switzerland Fashion Week provided a beautiful unique platform to share this message, and while in Europe, she was invited to travel to Paris for a press interview as well as a promotional photoshoot at the Eiffel Tower! As an independent designer she doesn’t do this for profit, but as a way to survive and share her story to bring awareness to others-to help open conversations surrounding suicidality- to help those who don’t understand to have their eyes opened, as well as bringing light and hope to those who do.
With gratitude, she thanks the many individuals, friends and family who helped fund her way to Switzerland. She has been invited to return to Europe in May to present her collection during the prestigious Cannes Film Festival Week in Cannes, France, and again in July to Couture Week in Paris. Mandy is relying on sponsors and supporters to make it possible. In return, she will be sharing behind-the-scenes videos, the creative process, and Fashion Week experiences across social media, offering sponsors unique exposure while highlighting the impact of their support. She hopes to take her dresses to New York, Paris, Milan and others to continue to spread her story and hope to others who like her struggle every single day to be “ok”.
“I’m not sharing this as someone who has overcome,” Mandy says. “I’m sharing this as someone still very much ‘In It-Not Through It’, I am still struggling every single day to ‘stay’, still creating when it’s really dark—because sometimes, that’s really all I can do. And that has to be enough for now.”
Mandy is currently seeking sponsors and supporters to help bring Unfinished Wings to other international runways and platforms to continue sharing and opening conversations around suicidality and mental health.
To contribute or learn more about the project, please contact Mandy by visiting Instagram or donate directly at Unfinished Wings: Creating Light in the Midst of Darkness
About Unfinished Wings
The Unfinished Wings Project is a collection of reimagined dresses, each symbolizing survival and the unfinished nature of healing. Created by Mandy Anderson, the project is an artistic expression of living with depression, anxiety, and suicidality—designed to inspire hope, start conversations, and remind others that even in our most broken places, we are still here. We can still create, we can still do what God sent us to Earth to do.
For media inquiries, interviews, or sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Mandy Anderson
1-801-361-8101