Sewing has been a craft practiced in our family down through the generations. In the beginning of the 20 th century, my aunts in San Francisco made cloths for the Crocker Family.
In the 60's my mother took on this craft as a hobby and created and sewed many beautiful dresses for my sisters and me. I loved to watch her sew and when I was five years old, I received my own little play sewing machine. I remember making my first piece, a little apron.
Years later in the early 70's in Switzerland, I went to "Handarbeit Schule"/ Sewing and Crafts School which was a class that was directly integrated into the school system.
During vacations I never was bored, because I always sewed, knitted or was into
creating something new.
At the age of 14-15 years old I was attracted to the world of fashion and took modeling courses at the Barbizon School in downtown San Francisco. Through Barbizon, I was able to participant in fashion shows for downtown department stores. In the 80's, I continued modeling for ads and fashion shows. In 1986 presented my own collection. (Photography : Al Gomez)
In 1981-1985 I attended Art School in Zurich, Switzerland (Kunst Gewerbe Schule in Zurich) Poly-Designer 3D. Through this profession, I decorated many fashion windows on the Bahnhof Strasse in Zürich. I created a collection for the theme "Fashion of the Future" / "Gestalten Mode für die Zukunft" for the department store Jelmoli in Zürich.
Wanting to know more about sewing technics, I continued taking sewing courses.
It was on my 20 th birthday that my parents bought me a sewing machine. I think this is what really gave me the motivation to design my own cloths collection. Hours and hours I spent sewing on my new machine, sometimes up until 3 a.m. in the morning...sewing away!
After my studies I headed back to San Francisco where I was more and more inspired to design and follow through with many creative ideas.
Christina Courmont