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Lolita Johnson
Adua Celentano
Adua Guzzardi Celentano was born in the small town of San Demetrio Corone in the southern region of Calabria, Italy which forms the toe of the boot. Calabria is the same region whe...ver másAdua Celentano
Adua Guzzardi Celentano was born in the small town of San Demetrio Corone in the southern region of Calabria, Italy which forms the toe of the boot. Calabria is the same region where the famous Italian designer Gianni Versace was born and the famous Pitagora (Pythagoras), the sixth century BC philosopher and mathematician who founded his school, the Pythagoreans.
Since she was six years old, her eyes and her mind were always concentrated on fabrics and sketches. She always put together dresses for her dolls in different colors and styles. At ten years old, she learned how to sew by machine. Often, she continuously watched her mother or their dressmaker sew. Finally, she decided to complete the dolls' dresses, even sewing by machine, and she would put the clothes in a beautiful package and tell her younger sisters that they were coming from America.
When she was eleven years old, her mother had to go to see her sister Teresa in the city. They had a housekeeper named Antoinette (they called her Donetta). She was six feet two inches tall and husky. Adua decided to make her a dress. She had to climb on top of a chair, and with newspaper, pins, and scissors, she made a pattern. Then she cut the dress on the floor and sewed it on the machine by pedal, because at that time, they did not use electric machines. The fabric was an acetate green pastel color with white flowers. Donetta was very happy with this dress and showed it to everybody.
Anyway, Adua studied fashion design in Italy, and at nineteen, she twisted her father's arm to let her come to New York City to study the American style.
Here at twenty, she really thought she had conquered the world. Adua loved New York. She loved the people, the work she did, and at twenty-two, she started teaching at the Traphagen School of Fashion, where she taught patternmaking for eight years. Then a student referred her to the French Fashion Academy, where she taught for one year. Yet another student referred her to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), where she taught for eight years, followed by Marymount College in Tarrytown, New Jersey, where she taught for seven years. First it was patternmaking, then draping, sewing, grading, and rub-off. Earlier in her career, when cable television first came about, she actually developed and hosted a fashion cable television show twice a week. However, it has been so long that she does not recall the name of the show. In addition to teaching, she was also working as a "custom made" designer, when she opened her own business for fourteen years, Adua Inc., located in New York City. This was the point when she started thinking "Why not write a book on patternmaking, not only for manufacturing, but personal patternmaking?"
Years went by, she got married to Aurelio Celentano and had two beautiful children, Concetta (Cetty) and William. However, her wish to write a book never died. She now lives in New Jersey.
Lolita Johnson, co-author
When Lolita first met Mrs. C, as so many affectionately call her, through her friend Bridgett Fernandez of B. Artise, all she wanted was to learn how to grade garment spec measurements. Before she knew it, she had signed up for a class, followed by three more semesters of advanced patternmaking, draping and sketching. Additionally, she organized a successful fashion show in between.
Lolita states, "Mrs. C has such vision, not only for herself, but for her students as well. If you do not dream big enough, she will dream for you and expect nothing less than success."
So yet again, when Mrs. C approached her about being her writing partner, Lolita had never even considered the fact that she had not written a book before and agreed immediately. What most attracted Lolita to the project was the fact that it would be written from the student's perspective. The plan was to simply take her class, then transcribe Lolita's notes and technical sketches into the book to make it as easy as possible for you, the personal pattern maker. Well, many years and three computer crashes later, here we are.
Lolita has spent over sixteen years in the fashion industry, traveling the world as a brand manager, merchandiser, designer, production and sourcing manager, and yet every time she is in Mrs. C's presence, she always learns something new, whether about fashion or life in general.
Lolita concludes, "It has been an absolute honor to take this journey with my friend, Mrs. C, and help her realize her longtime dream of writing this book."
For more information, please visit their website http://www.patternedafterme.com/author/ver menos