INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS FOR ... Jean Marie Clarke of Pax Philomena Tell us about the interesting name of your clothing line? Philomena is the name of my mother who I wanted to honor as she has been my inspiration and mentor throughout my life. Pax of course means “peace” in Latin. Philomena was historically, a Catholic saint who was martyred in the third century. Her tomb was found in the catacombs of Rome in the19th century and on it was written PAX TECUM FILUMENA (which means daughter of light in Greek). I shortened the phrase and PAX PHILOMENA was born. I also wanted to reinforce what Mother Teresa said, “Peace begins with a smile.” My clothing with its bright colours and beautiful patterns makes people smile, and thus helps to spread Peace/Pax throughout the world. Give us a little bit about your design and textile background? I started in textiles at the age of 9 as a batik artist. My mother and I were just having fun experimenting with batik and it turned into a career for us both. I was represented by an art gallery in Scottsdale and another in Taos, both of whom sold my art well. At Princeton University I studied Italian Renaissance Art History and became fascinated with Italy and wanted to study textiles there. So, I did a semester studying abroad in Rome, and after graduation I moved to Venice as an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim collection. Then fate stepped in and I met Antonio Ratti, owner of the best printing mill in the world. He hired me to live in Como, Italy. I was responsible for creating and selling Ratti’s luxury textile collection for home furnishings to the American market. That was 30 years ago, and I have been in love with textiles ever since! Where do people go to find your clothing? I have a website which is paxphilomena.com or I see clients by appointment at my atelier in North Central Phoenix. For appointments, please email info@paxphilomena.com or call me directly 602-369-9188. I love personally meeting my clients. Are you the chief designer for your apparel line or do you have others working alongside you?? I am the main designer for Pax Philomena; however, I do have two very special consultants on staff, my sons Max and Zane. Both have been to India with me to work on our collections and they know my business inside and out. They encouraged me to do the men’s boxers line and helped choose and design the fabrics for the men’s shirt collection. I personally wear every piece that we prototype before it goes into production and my son’s do the same for the men’s collection. Do you have a fashion decade you consider to be the best? Actually I enjoyed the 80’s quite a bit. That is not to say it was the
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best fashion decade. Probably the 40s were my favorite. However, during the 80’s I was in high school and used to make my own mini-skirts from unique textiles that I created myself. I had some amazing gold metallic ankle boots that I wore under my mini-skirts, which were clearly the key to my winning our senior class best dressed award! Who inspired your craft? Philomena, my mother, was my first inspiration as she taught me to take risks in colour, design, fashion, and most importantly in life! My next inspiration was Antonio Ratti who gave me the opportunity to live in Como, Italy and taught me that textiles as clothing are a form of art in motion. Living in Italy I also learned the importance of aesthetics in dressing. I realized that the Italians dress well not only for themselves, but also for others. India was my final inspiration! When I first went back (40 years after I was born there in Calcutta), the first thing that struck me was how beautifully and colourfully dressed everyone was! I knew then that I wanted to bring some of that colour and happiness to America and I wanted to make a line of clothing that brightens people’s days and makes everyone smile!