Life's Final Journey: Mara Hoffman on Embracing Mortality
Designer Mara Hoffman made the decision to pause and close her namesake fashion label, Mara Hoffman, in 2024, after a 24-year run in the industry. This move came at a personal time, as Hoffman had recently lost her father.
In an article titled "Embracing the End," which first appeared in Atmos Volume 10: Afterlife, Hoffman discusses her experience as a deliberate act of letting go—both of her long-held creative identity through the label and of her relationship with her father through grief.
The closing of the brand represents a recognition of cycles, acknowledging that some chapters must end for new growth or renewal. Simultaneously, coping with her father's death intensifies an awareness of life’s finite nature, deepening her journey through acceptance and transformation.
Hoffman's experience aligns with the theme of embracing the end by actively choosing to pause her professional endeavor rather than clinging to it, symbolizing surrender to impermanence. Navigating personal loss also deepens understanding and acceptance of death and its role in the human experience.
Reflecting a holistic process, endings, both creative and existential, become opportunities for reflection and sustainable transformation, resonating with broader cultural contemplations on mortality and closure.
Hoffman spent her father's final days in hospice, where he was surrounded by musicians from the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. The week leading up to his death was filled with intimacy, love, and sadness. Hoffman wrote a letter expressing her feelings about the closure.
According to Hoffman, endings are the doorway to freedom. She trusts in and celebrates the endings as much as the beginnings. In fact, she believes that dying is the sure path to living.
The closure of the brand was met with grief and mourning from the community. However, Hoffman's father's passing was intertwined with the closure of her brand. After his death, it became clear that his spirit had been waiting for Hoffman to release what she had to before he could release his body.
Through this experience, Hoffman has reaffirmed her lifetime commitment to curiosity and her dedication to plant medicines and spirit. She continues to explore the art of death, using her personal journey to guide others in facing their own mortality and finding meaning in closure.
References:
- Hoffman, M. (2024). Embracing the End. Atmos Volume 10: Afterlife.
- Mara Hoffman Announces Closure of Namesake Fashion Label
- Mara Hoffman's Father Passes Away Six Days After Brand Closure Announcement
- Mara Hoffman on the Art of Death
- Mara Hoffman's Letter on the Closure of Her Fashion Label
- Upon closing her fashion label, Mara Hoffman embarked on a journey of personal growth, delving into education and self-development, particularly the art of death.
- The closing of her label, coinciding with the loss of her father, sparked a deeper understanding in Hoffman about the role of endings, viewing them as opportunities for transformation and renewal, akin to home-and-garden cycles.
- As a testament to her spiritual exploration, Hoffman started writing about the art of death, merging her lifestyle insights with a mindfulness approach, sharing her wisdom in issues of Atmos Volume 10: Afterlife.
- This experience has led Hoffman to rely on curiosity and plant medicines, focusing on developing a strong connection with her spirit and embodying a sense of community, inspiring others on their personal-growth journeys centered on acceptance and transformation.
