Colombian born designer, Claudia Gontovnik Has a Mission to Make her Unique Line of Apparel Sustainable & Stylish

Colombian Designer

Claudia collects vintage pieces of apparel for to start with. From old denim jeans, denim jackets, trench coats, army surplus camouflage jackets and pants – these are the pieces that she will re-design. She’s even been adding in t-shirts and some dresses to the collection as of lately.

Gontovnik’s Fabric & Trim Inspiration Wall at her work space in Miami, Florida.

After choosing the base piece to work with, she uses interesting fabrics that she finds at flea markets, thrift stores, vintage shows, or even from recently purchased apparel that people no longer want. She finds a way to re-purpose these things and make them into special pieces that are worthy of being in your wardrobe for a lifetime because of the love, time and effort that has gone into them. Her mission is to inspire a sustainable way to be stylish and each unique piece represents a statement for her and the person who chooses to wear it.  

Television host, model and actress, Chiqui Delgado choosing her favorite statement jacket from Claudia’s collection.

Chiqui! That’s definitely how we feel when we wear Claudia’s pieces!

Claudia loves to capture sentiments that are thought provoking. This is one of her new t-shirt designs. The statement t-shirts have been a recent addition to her collection.

 

Claudia brought her folder of sketches showing the designs she has created. Each has a special story.

Claudia sketches out her designs showing exactly how she plans to modify the garment and also add the applique and embellishment work. Claudia brought with her to my trunk show, a collection of the many special fabrics and trimmings that she uses to design her pieces just in case anyone wanted to work on a bespoke piece of clothing with her while she was in NY. Inspired by all of these fabrics and your individual personality, she will help you to create anything you can think of. She loves adding character, whimsy and a voice to her pieces.                                      

Patches and stitch work like you see here take time to do. In some of Claudia’s pieces even just one applique can take from 1 to 3 hours depending on the size

In addition to what it takes to put together the actual designs, Claudia pins everything down as she has designed it and sends the garments to Medellin, Colombia where single mothers hand embroider everything in place. She is proud to be able to empower these women and give back to her country of Colombia.

In Claudia’s manifesto, she states that she can contribute by stopping the feeding of toxic chemicals into our environment when she uses what has already been produced. She also wants to convey the pressing need to stitch our world together through the rawness in every unique piece. With the patchwork pieces, you can see that all the edges are not perfect and that there are things that have been seamed together, but that Gontovnik says (and I agree) is the beauty in the design – the honesty of what it is. Her signature style is the chunky hand embroidery in vivid colors that stitches down the beautiful flowers, statement verbiage, and other unique pieces of fabrication in her pieces. The threads always end in hand knotted finishes to show the true rawness of life.

Claudia Gontovnik sharing her manifesto on her vision of fashion.

Amazing jackets that each have a unique individual style.

Claudia has such an artistic style and it comes out in the apparel she designs. She says, “I am passionate about individuality, having fun with clothes, dressing creatively every day and expressing oneself through individual style”.

With her energy and creative streak, Claudia has found herself at the helm of other creative projects such as designing and producing fashion shows and the music for these fashion shows, designing store windows as well as custom designed apparel for TV and theater, and beauty product catalog design and production. She has also delved into music, organizing and producing the Newport Guitar Festival in Miami, and doing styling for the musicians.

Loving Claudia’s pieces! There’s something for everyone! 

Claudia’s concept is that everything we need already exists, and she is dedicated to discovering and re-imagining previously owned vintage apparel and accessories to create completely one-of-a-kind pieces that nurture traditional hand-sewing techniques while endorsing a modern attitude towards design. It is Claudia Gontovnik’s mission to inspire a sustainable way to be stylish.

Based in Miami, Florida these days, you can visit her her website to read more about her and purchase her collection.

A big thanks to the amazing ladies who helped to organize, set up and support the trunk show with me!

www.danielleamatoapparel.com  www.ivydashphotography.com Betsie Batista and Chiqui Delgado

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