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| This text is replaced by the second Flash movie. |  | Fashion designer wants to be a household name
By JESSICA RASMUSSEN
jrasmussen@cninow.com
Posted: Oct. 8, 2008
http://www.wauwatosanow.com/story/index.aspx?id=803979
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Safronia Ivory (center) fixes an outfit she designed on model Mamie Jenkins
in preparation for photographs of her designs.
Photographer Courtney Barlow prepares his camera.
NOW Photo by Mary Catanese |
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For Safronia Ivory, inspiration is just around the corner.
A song or a hairstyle, her mood, a look out the window or an hour on her treadmill — give the fashion designer anything and wait for the spark of an idea.
Wherever she goes, whatever she does, fashion is always on her mind.
Ivory, owner of the Safronia Ivory plus-size boutique on North Avenue, plans to become the household name of plus-size fashion.
“People know how to pronounce Gucci,” she said. “They know how to pronounce Versace. They can learn how to pronounce Safronia (sah fro nee ya).”
But her goal is as grounded in virtue as it is in grandeur. For years, plus-size women have been denied the right to fashion, she said, and her job is to open the door.
Plus sizes overlooked
Boxy.
In one word, that’s the problem with plus-size fashion, she said. It is boxy, designed to cover up rather than show off.
“I don’t feel that because you are more than a size 8 that you don’t have curves,” said Ivory, a former fit model for Kohl’s.
Fitting a plus-size woman is about finding the correct silhouette for each woman’s body — a task more challenging than draping clothing on a size 2.
But in not living up to that challenge, the entire industry is ignoring the statistics, Ivory said.
“These people too have the right to shop,” said Ivory, who became frustrated with the lack of plus-size fashion after her first pregnancy.
But the evidence that plus-size fashion is lacking is as clear as the stunned response on her clients’ faces.
She wasn’t prepared for the emotional reactions, she said. When her clients receive their outfits that fit perfectly, they are speechless.
Ivory has an eye for clothing that looks good on plus-size women, said Danielle Withers, a friend and Ivory’s accessories consultant.
“For a plus-size woman to have a the same feeling as a size 2 woman when she is putting on her clothing is exciting,” she said.
And Withers foresees her friend going national with her clothing line. Ivory is ambitious and focused, and she knows what she wants
“She knows how to make something out of nothing,” Withers said. “I wouldn’t doubt it in a minute if she becomes a household name when it comes to plus-size clothing.”
A second act
Ivory draped a gray fabric around her dressmaking dummy, debating what to do with a leftover piece.
It will hit her, she said, and chances are it will hit her between midnight and 2 a.m.
“As a creative person, when the juices kick in, they kick in,” she said. “I have to get up when that hits me.”
She typically works in her in-house design studio between about 2 and 7 a.m., her creative time.
During the past month, while she prepared for Milwaukee Fashion Week — which was canceled the day before the kickoff — her schedule became even more chaotic. She planned to show 30 pieces, 10 of which will go to a manufacturer in New York.
This will be her third collection — an impressive feat for a designer who only recently became full time. Ivory opened her boutique on North Avenue in July.
For Ivory, fashion is a second act.
Entering Purdue University, she was scared off by the job outlook for fashion designers.
But the urge for the fourth-generation seamstress came back, and she went all in.
Milwaukee Fashion Week could have been a big break, but despite the cancellation, it provided Ivory with inspiration.
“You don’t know what’s working until someone tells you,” she said, and the fashion week judges told her she’s on the right track.
Jessica Rasmussen can be reached at (262) 446-6658.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Safronia Ivory plus-size women’s apparel and alterations
WHERE: 7215 W. North Ave.
HOURS: Monday, by appointment only; Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
CONTACT: Call (414) 454-0277 or visit SafroniaIvory.com |
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