FashionBride Interview with Katerina Bocci

I know my readers what to know everything about the wedding gowns! And since I want to help you know all about them I decided to have a short interview  with Katerina Bocci.  Her designs are absolutely fabulous and I’m sure you wanna know all about her work.

I must say I’ve kept this interview for myself :P, for quite a while. Katerina has been so kind and answered me to all my questions and I almost wanted to keep all the knowledge for myself.

Well, you know I couldn’t be so mean,  so here it goes:

First of all tell us a little bit about yourself, when did you decide to do this, was it a childhood dream or rather a wish to change things in the bridal department?

My father used to be a man tailor in my home country Albania and it was always my dream to be a fashion designer. So when I was 18 I started designing just for friends but very fast started to become like a request for so many people.

I decided to continue my education and I went to Italy where I studied At the SITAM school of design in Padova . I graduated in 1999 and in 2001 I came in the States. I located in Mi where I started working with a lot of private clientele as well as I worked for couple of years in a bridal salon I hated every time when a bride would come in and the dress would never fit right.

I hated when they made them order bigger sizes so they could fit them and make more money on alteration. It was not fair to the people.
 
How did your first wedding gown looked like? Do you remember, can you describe it a bit?

So I always put it in my mind as soon as I make some money I would have my own Bridal line which would be worked upon exact size of measurement not in size charts, so privately started doing custom bridal gowns and all that money went into savings for my own line , as well as I was staying so close to the needs of the bride I would learn sooo much about them.
At the end it is all about having the bride happy , having the right dress for them , the right design, the right fit, the right fabrics.

So that has been very helpful for me. My first custom bridal I did the first year I came to the States.
An Albanian singer(very known in Albanian community) was getting married and she could not find her
dream dress so she approached me and I made it happen. It was a mermaid  sweetheart, dress  with a long busseled train and the bottom of the dress was hand sown feathers with Swarovski stones.
The dress was a dream and for sure did bring me a lot of business.

Tell us a bit more about your inspiration and your sources.

I am a very spiritual person , and I always say my inspiration comes to me from the Holy Spirit that opens my mind and eyes to see beautiful things.

I think that woman is the most beautiful thing that God has created  and I would find the inspiration in this beauty, it can be the body, it can be the face, it can be the personality. And by putting these together , that’s how I come out with the design
 
Talk us through the process of making a gown. What’s the most difficult part and how can we (as future clients) can help you (I think our continue change of mind isn’t helpful 😛 ).

Because I design and produce my own pattern I do not have a lot of difficulties. What is sometime hard when I work on one and one costumer is when they can not  vision, or they like smth that would not work for their body, in this case they have to learn to trust the designer. That is harder because I have to explain over and over
 
I love working with silk , I love textured fabrics, and I love to mix as well , lace and stones , tuling and silk and handmade rosettes, it is the same as cooking and you use different spices and garlic and it comes into an amazing taste
 
Are you more fond of the traditional bridal look or do you tend to be more avant-gardism?

I like my designs to be bold and avant guard , women have to dare and wear, be unique, not always in tradition , the bride is so special does not have to look the same as every other bride.
They have to be their selves and please do not see the tag who made the dress , see how much you love the dress , how it fits you , how it makes you feel.

Do you also work with brides? Or you just offer them a given pattern that can be latter modified?

Here where I live in MI, I do work with the brides privately, by designing custom for them, but even when we sell to stores the dress is customized to the brides measurements, and in a lot of cases we meet the brides as well through the trunk shows and offer them custom changes of our designs.
 
Have you got any particular dress you designed that has a very special meaning for you? A dress that you remember and care about?

My very special dress is called “SPERANZA”, it is very special to me because it is the first dress of my own collection , and the meaning of the word is hope, and in this case the hope never ends for nobody like me as a designer and for the bride who is going to wear it as well.

Why do you think your gowns stay apart from the crowd?

My gowns stay apart from the rest because they are made with love, having three daughters and being the only child I know how important it is to the mothers and the brides this day. Secondly designing my own patterns myself , knowing the differences on women’s bodies, our fit is exquisite, producing the gowns in our own studio we stand for our quality, everything is MADE IN USA. We try to use as much as possible ECHO-friendly materials as well as the designs are just divine.
 
Can you give us an insight on your 2010 Collection; what where your inspiration sources, what did you opt for as materials, shapes etc.

In my new collection I like to give different shapes so any bride can like them and I am using a lot of duchess satin , lace and Swarovski stones. You can find princess dresses but you can find sexy mermaids as well.
 
Last but not least, do you have an advice for Fashion Bride readers?

My advice to all the brides is: Be true to yourself, I am sure you all have a dream in your mind and hart how your wedding dress will look like , please go for it.
And when you go shopping for the dress do not  go with tons of people , the best would be your mother or sister. Best of luck to all of you.