Ester Knight still works on her fashion designs in a small room in her basement of her Weyburn home, but she's started to get some major attention.
Knight was featured on Global Saskatoon Live on Monday morning after showcasing her spring/summer of 2014 collection at Western Canadian Fashion Week in Edmonton. She took her daughter Taliya, Skyler Kreger and Sawvonah Brown with her to model some of the items from the collection.
Brown modelled two outfits on the morning show and Taliya and Kreger each modelled one while Knight described the outfits and what her goals were.
"It was fun," said Knight. The girls did really well."
Knight's most recent fashion show at Western Canadian Fashion Week was on Sept. 21 and she showed 20 looks from her spring/summer 2014 collection designed for girls aged eight to 14 years old. She took four girls from Weyburn (Taliya Knight, Skyler Kreger, Blayke Walbaum and Tasey Gerle) with her to model and had another 11 models from Edmonton showing her looks. The majority of the fabric she used in her designs were colorful jersey knits which were designed to be mixed and matched.
"I'm like the only one making kids wear and I don't know why, because it's so much more fun than making ladies wear," said Knight. She said children can wear patterns, fabrics and colors that are fun to work with but don't work for adults. She said her children's clothes are purposely made to be soft, flexible and stretchy. She said another goal in her designs is to create clothes that girls in that in-between stage want to wear but which aren't revealing or uncomfortable.
"This collection is much more wearable," said Knight of the shorts, skirts, capris, tops and more that she designed. She also said it will be a lot more sellable. Her first collection, which she showed at Saskatchewan Fashion week this past spring, was meant for the runway only and had lots of silks, some of which she bought in Paris. The runway fashions were something she had been wanting to do for a long time, but said most of her designs are for ready-to-wear fashions.
Most of the fabrics for Knight's summer/spring 2014 collection came from fabric stores in western Canada.
"I went to a showroom in Vancouver and bought way too much stuff," said Knight with a chuckle.
Many of the fabric showrooms Knight visited were for designers and businesses only and fabrics had to be purchased in large quantities.
"I'm hoping to get the collection into a couple of boutiques," said Knight. She bought the fabric in bulk hoping boutiques in Regina, Saskatoon and maybe Edmonton and Calgary will carry her designs. She is meeting with boutiques in November.
The experiences at the Western Canadian Fashion show and Saskatchewan Fashion Week were very different, according to Knight. SFW is a young show, less than two years old, and WCFW is much more established with 14 seasons on the books. One of the differences she noticed right away was the difference in the runway. She said the runway in Edmonton was a nice hardwood floor and looked fantastic in pictures. Knight said showing her work at both shows were great experiences and she is already gearing up for a fall/winter 2015 show this spring.
"I already have a bunch of ideas for my next winter collection," said Knight, and described creativity as addictive. She plans to make the winter collection ready-to-wear as well.
"It's weird when you're thinking a year ahead," she said, but explained it is done that way to allow time for production of collections which receive orders. For now, Knight is responsible for her own production and she still takes custom order designs on the side.
"I can't seem to get away from it," she said with a chuckle. Knight began designing because she thought fit was so important in fashion, and recognized people's need for clothes which fit properly but aren't always available from mass-produced clothing stores.
For more information about Ester Knight's Moon Star Designs, visit www.moonstardesigns.wordpress.com.
