Weyburn resident Ester Knight, owner of MoonStar Designs, didn't start designing clothes because she was a fashionista dreaming of Parisian runways.
She started designing clothes, 20 years ago, because she noticed she wasn't the only one having trouble finding clothes that fit like they were supposed to.
"There's something to flatter every body. Find it. It always looks better," said Knight, with emphasis on the 'always'.
And that's where it all started.
Now, Knight is preparing for her first fashion show.
She will showcase her work at the second annual Saskatchewan Fashion Week in the afternoon show on Saturday, May 11 in Regina. Fashion week runs from Thursday, May 9 to Saturday, May 11.
Night is one of 28 designers from across Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Colombia to be chosen and she is the only children's wear designer.
Over the years, Knight has designed and made clothes for men and women of all ages but, in recent years, has found her niche with children's clothing.
Specifically, Knight designs clothes for nine to 12 year old girls and will present 10 pieces in her show.
Her two daughters, Alaina, 11, and Taliya, 9, were part of her inspiration and even get to model three of the designs in her show. Alaina will model one look and Taliya, who is more interested in fashion than her older sister, will model two items.
The other seven designs will be modelled by four local girls.
Knight first started designing clothes for girls when a friend asked her to make a skate dress for her daughter. Knight agreed and started getting more requests to make skate and dance outfits for tween girls.
Then, Knight and her family went to a banquet in Saskatoon. They arrived early with plans of finding a dress for Alaina to wear at the banquet. Knight said they must have looked for over six hours and tried on over 100 dresses.
"Kids don't all grow at the same rate," said Knight, and added that even when you can find something to fit, the style is often not age-appropriate for tween girls.
When they finally found a dress, she still had to make some adjustments in the hotel room.
After the whole fiasco, Knight said she thought to herself, 'there's got to be a better way'.
She spoke with friends who also had tween daughters and the women all shared their experiences growing up themselves and those of their daughters and came to one conclusion:
"For about four years in life, you can't buy anything that fits right."
Knight said these needs are underestimated by many people and that it is important because girls, especially at that age, are so self conscious.
"This is ridiculous. I'm going to do a show to prove that you don't have to be stuffed into whatever you can find," Knight said she thought to herself. Her husband, Adam, helped encourage her to submit an application to be in the show.
SFW executive director, Chelsea O'Connell, said Knight's designs stood out because she was the only children's wear designer and also because she was from a small town and they recognized an ambition in her work.
O'Connell also said she is hoping people will come and be surprised with the diversity and quality of talent being presented.
Knight has developed a few trademarks in her 20 years of designing that will make her work easily identifiable.
"I'm not a symmetrical person," said Knight of her love for asymmetric designs.
Most of Knight's designs have mismatched sleeves or embellishments.
She also uses lots of vibrant colours, and materials which are comfortable to move in like silk and spandex.
"It's a really neat form of expression. You can't really use lime green spandex in a wedding dress" said Knight, of designing tween girls' clothes who has designed bridal wear.
"Spandex is really forgiving," said Knight with a chuckle. She added the caveat that even spandex will look bad if it is a horrible fit.
Knight said silk is affordable and looks good too. She particularly likes the texture and depth of color available in silk, which she hadn't used for a while before designing for her show.
When preparing to work on designs for her show, she pulled out a silk to iron it and said the smell of warm silk smelled so good to her.
"I have some amazing silks I'm using in the show," said Knight.
During a one-week trip to Paris with her husband in September of 2012, she spent a day touring the Montmartre district where fabric and sewing supplies can be found in abundance. Knight said there were four full city blocks full of stores and vendors selling fabrics, buttons, and other materials for designs.
While in Paris, she bought some silks. The designer said she would have loved to buy more, but had to be careful because of baggage weight limits.
Despite Knight's strong feelings about fit being the most important factor in fashion, she admits a couple of her pieces are runway-only type designs, and said she doesn't expect girls to wear those pieces anywhere but on the runway.
"Fashion Week is the only place you can do that," said Knight of the 'runway-only' pieces.
Her show is an expression of her art, and the artistry involved in designing clothes is her favourite part of fashion.
The sewing is a creative process for Knight, whose mother taught her to sew when she was six years old.
"I enjoy figuring out how things get put together and learning new techniques."
Knight also credits her "amazing" home ec teacher in junior high who allowed her to take on complex projects and spend extra time working on them. Her first design was a Mickey Mouse skirt and vest she made for in that class.
For now, Knight is busy teaching her models how to walk the runway, finalizing her designs and looking forward to meeting other designers.
