Sarah Lottes, a 17 year old senior at Lake Catholic High School, is not just a girl with talent. She won the Prom Contest for JoAnn Fabric & Craft Stores, where thousands of teenage girls around the country scrambled through a prom fashion frenzy in order to receive a $10,000 scholarship given to the winning design. Each design had to incorporate fabric from JoAnn only, receipts attached to entry. There were many other requirements and rules, but we’re not getting into that.
Lottes' prom dress, a sophisticated ivory ball gown embellished with a beautiful large purple rose, is not as simple as it sounds. The amount of detail in this dress is amazing, and it even inspired a JoAnn employee to make her own wedding dress.
Luckily, this local fashionista plans to stay in the business, and mark my words when I say this girl is going somewhere. Lottes has (obvious) sewing & pattern experience, impeccable taste, and some serious bragging rights.
Lottes was gracious enough to answer some questions for us about her past, present, and future:
When did you learn how to sew, and who taught you?
I have been sewing almost my whole life. My mother is a seamstress so I’ve always been around it. She taught me everything I know, and over the years I’ve just picked it up, sewing little things on my own. It was only about a year ago that I started to get really serious about designing. The prom dress I did for the contest was actually the first big thing I did.
How did you come up with your dress design?
My design for it was inspired by a rose. I was just playing around and drawing in school when I came up with it. If you look at my dress closely, you can see that the whole thing actually is like a rose. The skirt of it is made up of petals and on the side of the corset I embroidered the outline of a rose, and of course the big rose on the front.
What was the process like making such a beautiful prom dress?
When I started making the dress, I used a pattern for the corset, which I changed to make it better fit my design and then the rest of the dress I draped.
Do you design and make other clothes? What do you make?
Yes, I do design and make other clothes, too. Right now I’m really into making dresses. I also made my homecoming dress for this year.
Do you plan on going to school or making a career out of fashion?
I plan on going to school for design. Right now I’m looking at schools all over, but I’m pretty positive that I want to major in fashion. That's my dream. I want to be a designer. Right now I’m looking at FIT and Parsons in NYC. FIR is where I really want to go, but my parents want me to look into Kent too, and there’s also a school in Paris that I’m kind of interested in. It really kind of depends on if I can get any more scholarships though.
What is your favorite thing about creating your own clothes?
My favorite thing about creating my own clothes is the fact that I can take this simple little idea in my head and turn it into something really extraordinary. Watching it evolve from simple drawing into something real is really an amazing feeling.
Young talent like Lottes coming out of the Cleveland area is a great example of how you can pursue your dreams at any age. Lottes knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to go for it, even if she’s miles from New York or LS. You don’t have to be a fashion veteran to know you’re good at what you do in this industry. Good luck, Sarah!
Editor's note: This story was originally published on AK2NY.com.
