Behind the Scenes at Turtle Cay Island Wear.
The Barbados Maxi Dress Fitting in Austin, Texas. A first collection for Turtle Cay Island Wear is going to happen. We’re excited!!!
Brynlee, my fit model, and Rebekah, my digital pattern designer, are making this dress in my first collection capable of happening.
Beautiful Antigua Maxi Dress!!! There will be a maxi, a midi, and a mini version. Stay tuned!!!
Fit model Brynlee models an awesome island romper!
The Turtle Cay Island Wear brand is now “Trademarked.” We’re getting ready for more progress! We’re using only top notch Italian fabrics for our first collection. The floral print on the Barbados Maxi was designed by myself, Margo Dilling, also printed on quality Italian fabric.
Parisian Inspiration in Saint Germain Area
Inspiration is everywhere!!! Especially in Paris. On a recent Parisian adventure, Emery (my wonderful husband) and I stumbled upon a hotbed area of Parisian fashion designers with their shops lined up wall to wall on a number of streets within the Saint Germain area of Paris. This is as about as exciting of a find that a new US designer with a new US Trademark for her fashion line could find. In this featured picture, I am on the right side facing you, the observer, and the Parisian stylist, Judith, stands on the left as you directly view the photo. This designer, maje, started her line at least 20-years-ago in Paris. Her website shows 541 stores worldwide and stores in Canada, the US, and Mexico. I had no idea that this designer maje was so large, and I honestly must say, with embarrassment, that I can’t recall hearing the name maje before. With Judith’s assistance and Emery looking on, I ended up purchasing two outfits and a belt. One garment was a very summer Parisian, silk, off the shoulder midi dress with a flowing style, and the second garment was a wonderful one piece jumpsuit also in a Parisian, lightweight summer fabric. The belt was a wide, black, wrap belt to tie around my waist with both outfits. Judith and I exchanged contact information and she gave me a short history about maje. I will visit Judith on our next Paris trip.
We also stopped at the store of a Parisian designer called Claude Pierlot, where I also gave in to my fashion addition, and purchased a lightweight, summer romper all designed in Paris fashion of course. The photo of the silver shoes I’ve attached worked perfectly with the romper I purchased and they looked way more awesome on my feet than one would think. I didn’t purchase the silver shoes, but they definitely have Parisian style written all over them because of the design of being a stylish, Paris walking shoe.
Hence, mes amies, I found beaucoup inspiration from a designer viewpoint in Paris. Even though we did not visit any island-type clothing stores that resemble my line called Turtle Cay Island Wear, I found renewed hope that the possibilities are endless for new designers. One must stay persistent, focused, and develop a repeat client base. Fashion design really all started in Paris. Paris has been the hotbed of fashion designers for so many years.
Bonne journee,
Margo Dilling
Five Steps to the Evolution of Turtle Cay Island Wear
How many fabric samples can one new designer collect before she determines that she’ll need to print her own designs onto the fabrics of her choice.
San Francisco Fashion Factory Tour with Lana Hogue and group in the polluted San Francisco air from the devastating California wildfires. Masks were essential.
In the Manhattan rain with Christine Daal and group for her NYC Fashion Factory Tour
Turtle Cay Island Wear has been on my agenda for the last five years. Below are my beginning five steps to the Evolution of Turtle Cay Island Wear.
- The idea evolved out of numerous Caribbean trips that Emery (my husband) and I have taken and my lifelong love of fashion, and now particularly island wear. On every island trip, we heard about and experienced education about the diminishing number of sea turtles on our planet, hence the name Turtle Cay Island Wear.
- For the past four years or more, I have been educating myself in the business mechanics of the fashion industry via seminars, fashion counseling and coaching, U.S. fashion factory tours (see photos), digital design, the search and evaluation of many fashion production companies, pattern and clothing sample makers, and making and creating new contacts. As an FYI, I learned to sew by the age of seven from my interior decorator brother, David, and my mother, Esther Louise Braud in south Louisiana.
- The basic sketching of island-inspired dress designs and changing them over a two year period into digital designs has been an extremely daunting task.
- The sourcing of the fabrics for my designs has not been easy. Please see my collection of sample fabrics in one of my attached photos. The sourcing of fabrics to enhance my first collection has become so cumbersome that I am now in the beginning stage of having several island prints recreated and printed on selected fabrics of my choosing. Note, another new step along the way for the evolution and development of my new company.
- AND NOW, The patience I’ve had for all the above steps is about to be begun with my first patterns and clothing samples being begun in hopefully the next few weeks. STAY TUNED! AND ALWAYS, LIVE FOR YOUR DREAM!!