ABOUT ME AND MY WORK
CREATIVE MIND
Pat is a passionate and fearless designer. Her creations are as exquisite and diverse as the athletes who wear them. She looks forward to working both with top athletes and rising young stars. She is inspired by their work ethic and love of the sport. Competitors have come to rely on Pat’s design expertise and extensive knowledge of fabric to create beautiful, high-performance costumes.
Many in the skating world have praised Pat for her amazing body of work. Her one-of-a-kind dresses last for years and are used for multiple competitions, though her clients often tell her they’d never sell any of her dresses because ‘they’re works of art.’
Pat comments that competition announcers always provide information about the coach, choreographer, and composer, but not the designer. Yet a well-designed, impeccably constructed dress can enhance the program, making it memorable enough to improve the skater’s performance. On the other hand, if the costume is subpar, it can affect the vision of the program.
Pat achieves a winning edge for her performers with innovative, striking design, perfect fit and an aesthetic that magically captures the music. At the end of the day, the performer must love the look and feel of what they’re wearing. Years of experience have taught her “Perfect fit is less a matter of luck than experience.”
Pat is dedicated to perfecting her art, integrating the highest quality into even the smallest details of her creations. She continually develops her craft, improving her skill at bringing a skater’s personality and interpretation of the music to life. While she sets progressively higher standards for herself, Pat isn’t interested in making comparisons with the work of other designers. She has this quote by Faulkner in her studio, “Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”
Though she’s completely dedicated to achieving standout quality of design and tailoring, she’s aware of how financially challenging these sports can be for families. This is why Pat is strongly committed to giving her performers more than what they pay for.
If you need a beautiful, high-performance costume, please contact Pat for more information.
THE CREATION PROCESS
Pat has been a costume designer since 1998. She began sewing as a child, so she has decades of experience in this medium. She made her first skating dress for her own daughter in 1995 when she was unable to find anything that met her standards.
Pat conducts research that inspires her unique costumes. “I get as much information about the client as possible–coloring, body type, likes and dislikes, and most importantly, I listen to their music. The music and the movements that I visualize to the music are my primary sources of inspiration.”
Pat’s research also includes historical periods, fabric types, colors, and films related to each skater’s theme. “I find inspiration everywhere and in everything. By the time I create the dress, I have seen the dress alone, the dress on the person, the flow, its movements, and each changing silhouette before it is ever made.”
Her design process starts with a conversation between skater and designer pondering possible styles and colors. Pat then sends sketches, sometimes several different ones, for the skater and their team to examine. She then constructs her dresses in layers, for example–applying one stone color at a time–similar to how a watercolor painter applies one color wash on top of another. The finished product is a duplication of her original sketch. “The sketch is my blueprint.”
Competition clothing must fit perfectly and stretch easily to give an athlete unconstrained, free movement. Lycra is the material of choice for skaters due to its extreme flexibility, breath-ability, and light weight.
Pat attends to every detail with careful precision. For example, the mesh parts of the dress must be close to invisible, so she dyes the mesh to match the skater’s skin tone, keeping a record of the best dye formula for each of her clients.
Above all, Pat loves the creative process of closely collaborating with her clients to create dresses that are works of art.
Though many have praised her now extensive body of work, she wants people to judge the merits of her creations for themselves.
CREDIT
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