About Wendi Couture
Overview
Every woman is beautiful and the clothes she wears can either camouflage or showcase her beauty. Consumers of the mass market are limited to options in finding the right garments to fit or flatter skin tone, body type and fashion tastes. Even two women who typically wear the same size will not necessarily fit a specific garment the same. Mass production doesn’t allow for all the variations to satisfy and compliment everyone.
I believe that good fashion should enhance the beauty of women as picture frames enhance fine paintings without overpowering or detracting from that which is framed.
The mission of Wendi Couture is to custom design garments to bring out each woman’s individual beauty and personality. Although custom designing is the major focus, designs of garments I have made for myself, family and friends are being made available for purchase. These too, are customized allowing choice of color in any of the new Wendi Couture custom fabrics.
MyBackground
I have always loved to create and was very fortunate in having people in my life who have nurtured and encouraged my creativity.
My maternal grandmother was a ballet teacher and introduced me to the performing and visual arts. She gave me my first coloring book and crayons, taught me ballet, how to ice skate, how to do simple embroidery, crochet and knit stitches and paid for oil painting lessons when I was very young.
I loved to play with dolls ad started to make clothes for them when I was about seven years old. My grandmother used to give me her old fabric swatch catalogs she subscribed to for making ballet costumes. Some swatches were big enough to either make garments for my dolls or to embellish them with the samples of sequins, satin and netting.
When I turned twelve, my paternal grandmother gave me my first real sewing machine. It was an old treadle machine that had been converted with a motor. My mother taught me how to read read and cut out sewing patterns. From that time on, I made a lot of my own clothes including prom dresses, my wedding dress and clothes for my family and friends. Rarely did I make an item without altering patterns because I always wanted my garments to be a bit different.
My education includes a BS Degree in Art Education from the University of Oregon School of Architecture and Allied Arts, certificates in Interior Design from LaSalle Extension University and Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawai`i. I worked my way through college by working as a merchandising and display artist at a department store. The year I was graduated from college just happened to be the year that art was written out of the curriculum in many schools across the nation so I could not find a job as an art teacher at that time. Since I was single and had not really seen much outside of the Pacific Northwest, I took a job as a flight attendant with United Airlines based in Miami for two years. In 1972 I came to Hawai`i where I was married. I worked for a few years in advertising and merchandising display at JCpenny. In 1978 my husband, children and I moved to Waimea, Hawai`i. At that time I was hired to teach art and other social science courses at Parker School, a private school where I worked for the next thirty years.
After taking hula for many years, I went through an `uniki ceremony (graduation) to become a kumu hula (hula teacher) in June 2000 under the direction and teachings of my kumu, Michael Pili Pang. Through his mentorship and teachings, I have learned a variety of Hawaiian arts and crafts. Hawai`i and its culture has greatly influenced my creations.
My hobbies have always included painting, drawing and a variety of crafts. However, sewing as a craft has taken the front seat abd has become a business for me.
