Matt Bruening: Doing whatever it takes

Growing up in a single-parent home, young Matt Bruening’s family was unable to afford fashionable clothing. He thought it would be great to create the clothing he always wanted, and when he saw Diddy on the Style Network, he asked, “How do I get there?”

“I don’t know how, but I’m going to go to college,” he said. “Whatever it takes.”

Bruening says trying the UH Mānoa fashion program was “the best decision I ever made. Going to college made me open to opportunity.”  Today, he takes joy in seeing people wearing his designs. “If I can radiate positivity for a woman or a man to feel great, I feel they could do everything – they’d be limitless.”

University of Hawai‘i Alumni