Christiann Moore is a clothing designer based in La Jolla who specializes in leggings and T-shirts with a custom fit. Moore believes that garments should be comfortable with no zipper, no snaps, and no buttons. These stylish garments can be worn to the gym, to work, or on an evening out on the town. This sets her apart from her competitors and the casual clothes are never mistaken for going to the gym.
Fashion was always her first love, which began when she was young watching her grandmother,a professional sewer. Moore watched her grandmother sew on a treadle machine and was always excited when she would give her jobs to do such as threading a needle and ripping a seam. She took scraps of fabric home from her grandma and designed and hand-sewed clothes for her dolls. Years later, she inherited the treadle machine and fabric from her grandma.
At the age of 18, Moore went in a different direction and took a clerical job, met her husband and they began a 3-D software company. About five years ago, Moore began making chunky scarfs that were free-form hand-crocheted and then made free-form hand-crocheted custom shawls to match wedding dresses. This led her to make the decision to pursue a certificate in fashion design and enrolled in San Diego Mesa College with the goal of taking one class each semester so she could continue working with her husband in the software business. One pattern-making class got her excited about starting a new business.
One of the most recent jobs she and her husband had was to set up a custom class to teach the U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Braque. Using their software, they taught them how to scan the human body for all the critical measurements. This was to help them fit body armor and Moore attributes this to her education at Mesa College. The group followed the software to scan where the key points and measurements were. She took in a mannequin and diagrams to help explain.
Working in this business, Moore works with sewing contractors and felt that she wanted to find out how to have a better relationship with them. Currently, she is taking boot camps to have a better understanding of what industrial manufacturers expect from a designer. The Albuquerque Fashion Incubator is a sewing factory school run by a woman named Kathleen Fasanella. The concept is to learn what is important with sewing contractors.
During World War II, Rosie the Riveter and women were more productive using industrial engineering, which fell to the wayside after the war. Fasanella started her school using the industrial engineering concept because people don’t know what to do with manufacturing now. This will help re-shore production and provide good jobs. Training is free but the products they make are donated to charities.
Moore will be releasing new sophisticated pieces on her website, which can be viewed by visiting ChristiannMoore.com.
