Member Biographies

 

Shirley Willett (www.shirleywillett.com) is BDL's founder and master pattern engineer. She was named Boston's number one designer in the 1960's by Women's Wear Daily, and sold to Neiman Marcus, Bonwit Teller, Bullocks Wilshire, and Saks Fifth Avenue, among others. During the 1990's she received a series of engineering design grants from the National Science Foundation for her Stylometrics Pattern Technology, and has recently presented her system at an MIT workshop on cross-industry design practices.

 

Ilma Paixão does internationally recognized work with Brazilian lace-makers and their communities, bringing their beautiful work to an American audience, while helping to fund schools and support the community. Her involvement with BDL has allowed her to improve the fit of these hand-made creations beyond their original 2D designs.

 

Teresa Crowninshield Coburn (www.teresacrowninshield.com) began designing clothing while living as an English teacher in China. Two years of concerted self-study and exploration of the local fabric markets enabled her to produce several unique designs which later caught the eye of a Parson's trained designer, Cheng Lin.

After a yearlong apprenticeship, she returned to China to independently create her first line of women's silk and cashmere coats.

The remarkable success of the debut line enabled Ms. Coburn to expand her China operations while refining her style and further exploring the exotic offerings of the Chinese silk markets. She produced her 2nd and 3rd lines independently and to rave reviews, growing the company 50% each year. She again expanded her sourcing network and production techniques and refined her design skills with the help of master pattern maker, Shirley Willett. Armed with new draping and pattern making skills, Ms. Coburn returned to China to produce her 4th line.

Ms. Coburn's clear and progressive vision, along with her insistence upon unique fabrics, superior craftsmanship and quality control, has won her placement in a steadily increasing number of boutiques and trunk shows.

 

Margo Cotham is developing a line of modest-classic baby boomer clothing for future Boston Design Lab events.

 

Hilary Emmons is the proprietor of Crafty Robot (www.craftyrobot.com), where she showcases her one-of-a-kind home goods and accessories with a sense of fun and a focus on the use of vintage and recycled materials. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe Sidekick and in BUST Magazine. Through her work with Boston Design Laboratory, she is developing a line of 40s and 50s-inspired clothing designs for women.

 

Carole Inferrera

 

Jessica Knight is a recent college grad committed to developing and managing her own fashion business. Through networking with members of Boston Fashion Meetup and working collaboratively with other designers in Boston Design Laboratory, she has gained invaluable knowledge, in addition to encouragement to pursue this goal.

Jessica's designs target young women interested in chic and feminine day dresses.
Her hand-sewn couture pieces are a refreshing departure from the current mass-produced "jeans and t-shirt" fashion aesthetic. Her current design work will be shown at the Boston Design Laboratory fashion show as a part of Boston Fashion Week.

 

Denise Ting has always been a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to style and design. In her first pieces constructed from scratch she hopes to convey her flair for the original and the overlooked alike as expressions of her personality and wit.

Anita Wilcox is the proprietor of Violette Enterprises, a company which is devoted to fashion from the past two centuries. She comes to the fashion world from the high-tech industry and is looking to apply engineering vision to the art of fashion design and patternmaking. Her designs are influenced by the elegant and artful elements of vintage fashion and her particular favorites are the sleek silhouettes of the 1920's and 1930's. Her company will soon be producing a line of fashion patterns that reproduce many vintage designs from the past, as well as some original designs of her own.