It’s been a few weeks & I am loooooving working with my fabulous intern, Savannah.  She is a tremendous help & I always say the best work comes when you can creatively bounce ideas off of another person.  And speaking of creativity…Savannah had the pleasure of interviewing one of her fellow Apparel & Textile Design students, Mary Catherine Moody about her recent collection, ‘Belle Pétille’.  I have to admit when I saw her collection I was BLOWN AWAY…I mean this girl is Bergdorf’s, Barneys & Saks bound for sure!

SP: What made you pick the major Apparel and Textile Design?

MCM: Growing up, art was really all I knew and wanted to know. Taking painting lessons, hand sewing and crafting continuously gave me a sense of thrill and extreme satisfaction.  I have always had a creative eye for fashion and found great pleasure in dressing myself in what I consider “stylish”.  I consider fashion an art, so I knew I would be doing what I love…all in all a perfect fit.

SP: What was your inspiration for your recent collection?

MCM: Since I was set to show my looks at ‘Fashion For Life’ on December 4th, I thought how lovely it would be to showcase a Holiday collection, right in time for Christmas. My goal for the four looks I created was for my target customer (the Upper East Side woman, ages 20 to 40) to wear them to her numerous holiday parties and events and of course to feel glamorous yet festive. Belle Pétille is filled with glitz, elegance and embellishment that sparkles and shines (hence the French term).  I am always drawn to ornate fabrics and beautiful embroidery, which I think I was able to achieve in this collection.

SP: Which garment is your favorite?

MCM: By far the cocktail dress. It is made of an imported corded lace overlay and I sewed jewels to the entire dress.  It is very heavy and feels ‘luxe’.

SP: Is this your first fashion show?

MCM: No, second.  I designed and hand-sewed thirteen dresses for Rock the Runway last year.  You can view them online at www.marycatherinemoody.com under “La Femme” collection.

SP: That’s impressive, I can’t imagine how long that must have taken you! Where did you find all the fabric you used?

MCM: New York mostly… I used fabric the designers from my summer internship gave me.  Believe it or not I actually resorted to Hancock’s for some as well, and the “Chanel” tweed skirt fabric was deconstructed from a vintage dress my friend gave me for the sole purpose to tear apart.

SP: Did you have any design dilemmas during the construction of the garments?

MCM: Of course– everyone does or they aren’t human! That embroidered neckline grey blouse was one heck of a dilemma! The fabric was not very forgiving and wouldn’t cooperate like I wanted it to.  I had to re-make it twice before I was perfectly happy with it. Also, the evening gown was extremely last minute.  I had planned on doing a completely different cocktail dress to go under the blazer, but when I began making it I wasn’t happy with it.  So, I grabbed that evening gown fabric, draped it on my dress form and whipped it up two nights before the show. Then I had to figure out something to go with the blazer, so that’s how the embroidered necklace top and tweed skirt came about.  Sometimes mistakes unveil a beautiful new idea.

SP: Love that.  So what do you see yourself doing in the future?

MCM: Hopefully owning a line of luxury clothing which one day will be sold at Bergdorf’s…I think I need a lot more experience (and a business partner) before I can make this happen, but here’s hoping!