Designer Interview ...
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Glamour, Gowns, & True Love
Justina studied fashion design, "because as a child, I loved fashion and ballet. There is an overlap between the glamour of fashion and the way a ballerina presents herself onstage.
"I read ‘Vogue’ the same way a little boy would look at pictures of cars." She became a gown designer when she got married. "I designed my dress, and when people saw it, everyone wanted me to design theirs."
In creating her own dress, Justina says she "put chicken wire in the bustle!" It had 250 hand-made silk rosettes on the back — "in the shape of a heart."
That dress is called the "Justina," in the spirit of her wedding.
Today, she is the designer behind her label, while her husband David runs the business. "We met years ago when we were little kids," says Justina. "We took swimming lessons together when we were six year-olds in Winnipeg. Later on I dated his brother and he dated my sister!"
It wasn’t until they left Winnipeg and separately moved to Ottawa that they met again, fell in love, and got married. "It’s a really great working relationship because everything I don’t have about my character, he fills in.
"I respect that he has a keen idea of business, so it’s always a compromise. In our company," she says, "I’m ‘Justina.’ He’s ‘McCaffrey.’ "
Justina McCaffrey Haute Couture
Available at Kleinfelds,
110 West 20th Street, NYC
212.352.2180
admin@justinamccaffrey.com
www.justinamccaffrey.com
