“Jane by Design”

Creator: April Blair

“Jane by Design” is about a simple mistake of identity after landing her dream job assisting a designer, Gray Chandler Murray (Andie MacDowell) at Donovan Decker, where they think she is an adult. A young high school girl, Jane Quimby (Erica Dasher) is forced to live a double life to support herself and her brother after their parents passed. She spends half her time as a high school student, the other half as an up-and-coming fashionista in the world of fashion. As Quimby struggles to keep this secret from pretty much everyone, she relies on her best friend Billy Nutter (Nick Roux) to help her out with getting her to and from, what she is calling her job a fashion internship, so she can keep her identity a secret. 

The newly ABC family television “Jane by Design” is a great show for high school teenagers aspiring to be the next biggest fashion icon. The television show embraces a number of qualities inherent to teen life, including blossoming self-identity and the desire to be accepted by your peers. As for the show's presentation of teen life, there's a lot of truth to Quimby’s trying experiences with her peers, and the content brings relevant issues like bullying and popularity to the forefront. “Jane by Design” also turns the tables on some stereotypes by casting multi-dimensional characters who often exceed viewers' preconceived notions of Quimby and Nutter. 

The show broke free from the norm we see on television shows. Jane is known as “Plain Jane” by the resident mean girl Lulu Pope (Meagan Tandy). Of course, Pope is everything Quimby is not; popular, rich and with a bad attitude. Quimby is always on the outside trying to get a glimpse into Pope’s world. Quimby found herself falling for the most popular guy in school Nick Fadden (Matthew Atkinson), but had doubts about him have the same feelings towards her, because she wasn’t a girl in the “in crowd” but they both had the same feeling towards each other. Nutter who has had a secret love affair with  Pope (Meagan Tandy) who hide their relationships from the entire school include their friends and family, because they were in this interracial relationship. “Jane by Design” brings to light issues that are often over looked and not addressed. 

“Jane by Design” teaches young up and coming college students to chase after their dreams and to be who they aspire to be.