Oscar Worthy Couture Dresses By Maggie Norris
Illustrated By: Anna Kiper
In the heels of a post Mercedes Benz Fashion Week closing party last week, I caught up with Maggie Norris at her atelier in midtown Manhattan. The veteran fashion designer was excited to reveal her latest projects, one of them being the launch of a mid-20th century sunglasses collection. Once a fashion designer at Ralph Lauren, Maggie has since become the go-to designer to a host of celebrities, top stylists, New York City’s socialites, philanthropists, and first lady, Michelle Obama, to name a few. Her romantic silhouettes, and costume-like couture is a celebration of femininity and speaks directly to the age of elegance.
High End Weekly™: Congratulations, I heard that you are now a part of the Women & Fashion Film Festival at FIT.
Maggie Norris: Thank you. The festival will be launch in late spring 2013, and the FIT students are already working hard on this project. It’s fascinating to be part of the Benefit Committee which include, Tony Award winning producer Catherine Schreiber, Alexis Doyle (Board Member of The New Group & Irish Repertory Theater), Nancy Jane Loewy, Zang Toi, and Rosina Rucci.
The belle of the ball
Maggie Norris Couture
HEW: You are also involved in FIT in other ways, aren’t you?
MN: The school offers an excellent mentoring program, and I’ve been honored to participate in such a refreshing course. I always look forward to guide this next generation of fashion designers so that they too will have the opportunity to bring more beauty into the world. It’s been a pleasure to help guide them to clarify their own vision of design. Each year F.I.T. presents a runway show of its top graduating BFA design talent to a full house. Attendees include Industry luminaries and press, anxious to see the next emerging names in fashion design. Graduating fashion design students are mentored by respected designers who serve as industry critics, with each critic ‘matched’ to the relevant design concentration. Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Norma Kamali, Narciso Rodriguez, Diane von Furstenberg, Josie Natori, Dushane Noble for Helmut Lang and Alicia Sison for Betsey Johnson have each acted as advisors and critics to groups of graduating students.
IN THE STUDIO
HEW: Now that I’m in your studio, tell me more about some of the elegant, and sleek lines that I’m seeing in your various collections.
MN: We have several of our signature white shirts. The alluring lines that they cut are quite flattering to a woman’s body. What’s great about these shirts is that our clients have the options of applying different cuffs to them, if they so choose. They can go from day wear to evening wear by simply changing the appearance of their cuffs! Our variety of perfectly proportioned jackets, with their alluring embroidered cuffs are always in vogue. Most of the time, these cuffs are handmade with Chinese embroideries. Our jackets are made of satin, suede, and various flawless materials which clients have come to expect from us. Of course, we have our corsets which is part of our signature look. Some of them are made in Paris, but mostly all of our couture is done here in the United States. We’re so well known for our corsets, that clients sometimes bring their heirlooms to us, and we in turn artfully designed them. Nicole Kidman once wore a Maggie Norris Couture corset in one of her movies. But we’re always creating all the time, whether it’s an individually crafted wide-leg pants, or an elegantly appointed leather jacket
Eye-catching and timeless: A portrait by renowned painter Nelson Shanks on a model dressed in a corset by Maggie Norris Couture
HEW: You have some fetching boots displayed throughout the atelier. Who are they from?
MN: They are custom-made from London by the same boot maker that makes similar ones for Queen Elizabeth II. We have also collaborated with Christian Louboutin in the past. Throughout my career, I’ve teamed up with a number of high-profile designers, and came to appreciate the resulting synergy.
RAISING THE BAR
“We have the option of offering our clients bespoke fashion. When a bride for instance come to us, we ask her about her vision for that special day. Does she want the dress to take her to the 1940s, the 1920s? Is it a tropical weeding, do they want hand painting? For example, if the wedding is in a place like Jamaica, we can custom made the flower that apply to that region…
We recently designed a crest for one of the women from The Forbes Family. She gave us her own tartan and we made an exquisite pair of pants for her. We love doing crests for our various clients.” Maggie Norris
ON PRINT
Photographed By: Chris Craymer “Agathe Long Shirt Dress”
Joyce DiDonato, Stylist: Ashley Pruitt
Photographed By: Bill Phelps
Joyce DiDonato wearing Maggie Norris Couture ‘Natasha’ Evening Coat
featured in “Yankee Diva” FLATT Magazine Issue #4 2013
A model wearing one of Maggie Norris coveted corset, Photographed By: Mario Testino
As seen in the December 2012 issue of Allure Magazine
ON THE RUNWAY
HEW: You’re launching your first eye glasses collection next month, is that right?
MN: We’re starting with a good start: one style and four colors. The glasses are made in Italy, and the materials have this old world craftsmanship about them.
Copyright images from Maggie Norris
All rights reserved
Maggie Norris Couture is open by appointment only at: 494 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1505, New York, NY 10001. She can be reached at (212) 239-3433. Visit her website at: www.maggienorriscouture.com
Photo courtesy High End Weekly™
