Claudene Gordon looking to take the fashion world by storm

Claudene Gordon, who hails from Dover in St Mary, is ecstatic that she is finally on the road to gaining international recognition for her intricate, handcrafted, macramé brand, ClaudeneG.

Not only has her collections been featured in stores such as The Fitting Room Hilo in California, she has also shown at New York Fashion Week and the subsequent networking has seen her attracting a range of clients.

“Actually, things started looking good in 2007 when I started a collaboration with Italian designer, Ida Scurto, to design uniform collections for McDonald’s, Wendy, Taco Bell and KFC,” she told The Gleaner.

Gordon said that this collaboration lasted for nine years, until 2016, and the uniforms are still being worn by more than one million employees in the United States.

With a 9-5 as a graphic designer for Barco Uniforms, where she designs brochures catalogues and marketing material for their retail clients, in her off-work hours, she continues to work on her dream of being a world-recognised fashion designer.

She describes her collection as a playful creation of beads, fringes, and vibrant colours, and explained that she stayed up most nights sketching and researching new ideas to include in her collection.

Scholastic award

Gordon, who migrated to the US as a child, won a scholastic award in high school for the very first oil painting she created of her mother. This was featured in the Brooklyn Museum of Natural Arts for six months. Upon graduating, she attended Wood Tube Coburn in New York City for Fashion Design and the Art Institute of California for Graphic Design.

“I call them the best of both worlds. Graphic design allows me to continue my passion for visual arts, and fashion design allows me to create, using my hands as I did on canvases in high school. I’m just an artist by nature and creating is the highlight of my life,” she said.

Gordon has set herself apart from other designers by staying true to what she loves, “and that is using handcrafted details to create unique one-of-a-kind pieces,” she said, adding that she loves creating using beads, fringes, and vibrant colours – key elements she credits for creating her own niche.

Gordon shared that her inspiration came from her mother who “introduced and had me enamoured” with fashion as she watched her making dresses for her sisters and herself.

“My mother used a lot of details when making dresses. Today, I utilise the same intricate and refined delicacy in my designs. For my collection, yards of fabric are cut into narrow strips by hand. The strips are then individually draped on a mannequin into knots, ties and twists until the final garment is created. Once I start creating a piece I completely lose myself in the craft,” confesses Gordon.

Her dream is to build brand ClaudeneG and open her own boutique, selling distinctive pieces that are worn and loved by people all over the world.