JConnor

Published at 00:00, Wednesday, 21 March 2007

A ROMANIAN fashion designer based in the South Lakes is set to exhibit her work for the first time.

Angy Morton, 32, who has lived at Fell Foot, Newby Bridge, with her English husband, Mike, since 2004, is putting the finishing touches to seven evening gowns.

She will be presenting these at the Weddings in Lakeland Show in the Westmorland Shopping Centre, Kendal, on Sunday, March 25.

The designs will be modelled by Vicky Parkinson from Ulverston, two of Angy’s young nieces and Angy herself.

She will also be displaying examples of her handbag designs.

Angy said: “I wanted to create some elegant and very feminine evening gowns to give people an idea of my styles.

“My designs have a range of influences but I’m particularly interested in art nouveau. Many of the buildings in my home town, Timisoara, were designed in the art nouveau style, so it’s very much something that I grew up with.”

Other influences that can be seen in her work include Romanian folklore, in particular with her use of embroidery and the flowers she uses in some of her designs.

She also uses macramé, a form of textile making using knotting rather than weaving, or knitting that is widely used in her homeland.

Angy got the dressmaking bug from her grandmother and made her first top at the age of six.

She later went on to study fashion design and dressmaking in Romania, selling her first designs, two skirts and some women’s trousers, when she was 16.

She said: “For me dressmaking was like a glove. I used to sit watching my grandmother working and I knew that was what I wanted to do myself.”

Angy’s husband, Mike, 43, runs Romanian travel specialists Transylvania Uncovered, based in Newby Bridge.

After spending a few years helping with the business, Angy is now devoting more time to developing her fashion design and dressmaking business.

She said: “I think living in the Lake District has inspired me to spend more time doing the thing I love most. I see something every day that I can use in my designs.”

The Weddings in Lakeland event is being organised by Made in Cumbria and runs from 11.30am to 4pm.

For more information about Angy Morton’s fashion design and dressmaking services contact 01539 530648. Transylvania Uncovered has its own website at www.beyondtheforest.com

Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk