Waynesboro designer to show couture collection at Virginia Fashion Week

Mariah Clark the designer for Mariah Amine Couture, based in Downtown Waynesboro, has been accepted to show in Virginia Fashion Week 2012 as a couture emerging designer. Virginia Fashion Week will take place in downtown Norfolk Oct. 17-21, 2012.

Created in 2007 to bring the high fashion and high style of New York City to Virginia Fashion Week promotes models and designers from this region.  According to Ann Leister, founder of Virginia Fashion Week, the show is becoming more well-known and designers based outside of Virginia have also been expressing increased interest in showing here.  There will be a trophy for judges’ favorite designer issued each night. Each winner will receive a photo shoot and the opportunity to show as a headline designer at future shows. The one overall judges’ favorite for the week will receive a video specially edited to show their designs combined with interviews and photo shots. If a winner wishes, that video can be formatted to serve as a submission video for “Project Runway”.

Clark opened her boutique, Mariah Amine Couture, in December 2010. The boutique, located at 112 S. Wayne Avenue, showcases her handbag line (launched in 2009) and her ready-to-wear collections (first released in 2011) as-well-as other hand-crafted and/or locally-made items. Clark has a strong sense of history and heritage which fuels her passion for creating formal gowns that bring the grace and beauty of the past into modern silhouettes.

Every gown she creates is constructed with care and extreme attention to detail, using couture techniques to insure quality and beauty. A graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s Apparel Department, Mariah received the International Textile and Apparel Association’s (ITAA) Paris American Academy 2007 Scholarship Award. She studied fashion and couture sewing techniques in Paris in 2008.

More information on Virginia Fashion Week can be viewed at www.vafashionweek.net and more information on Mariah Amine Couture can be seen at www.mariahamine.com.