FASHION
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Christina Hendricks
DESIGNER PROFILE
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CABIRIA MAKES HISTORY Award-winning designer Eden Miller makes history on the runway with her curvy collection Cabiria, the first plus size line to show at New York Fashion Week. Eden shares her experience with DARE. BY ERIN THOMAS ERIN: How did you get your start in the industry? EDEN: I started when I was eight years old, working in a nursing home with my mom and learning to sew from the old ladies there—they were perfectionists! Then, I worked in a custom clothing shop, which had a costume shop in the back with vintage costume and pageant pieces going back to the 1940s.When I was 17 I moved to New York to pursue my dream to become a costume designer, which I did for many years [after that]. Dorothy Perkins DP Collection clutch, $120, dorothyperkins.com
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ERIN: Do you feel you’ve opened the door for other plus size designers to show at Fashion Week in the future? EDEN: I very much hope I have, but I’m a realist. The NYFW show is an invitational with a very high price tag to show. Designers commonly spend between $20,000 to $500,000 on these one-off events and there are 1300 of them every season. The price of entry is prohibitive for most and I’m simply lucky I was in a position to take part with this great not-for-profit organization. ERIN: Where do you see Cabiria at this time next year? EDEN: If I’m lucky and I play my cards right, I hope to be selling (more) internationally—we just got our first shop in the UK. I’ll be in a retail chain like Nordstrom or Dillard’s here in the States and be able to expand to more style options per season. I really want to find an investor this year to really capitalize on all this momentum and give what plus size consumers really want in the marketplace—better options!
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ERIN: Cabiria was the first plus size collection to show at NYFW. How did the opportunity come about? EDEN: When I was starting my line, I went to The Fashion Law Institute, part of Fordham Law School, for very specific advice for fashion and business crossover. The woman who runs it, Dean and Professor Susan Scafidi, loved my work and asked me to take part in the showcase based on the merit of my designs. It was only after I looked into it that everyone realized that they had made a groundbreaking choice.
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HENDRICKS & CABIRIA: GETTY IMAGES.
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