At the tender age of ten, most children are busy playing Twilight and trying to score Miley Cyrus tickets. Not Cecilia Cassini. The ten year old, Valley-based 5th grader already has her own namesake clothing line, which she designs and sews herself, along with a roster of celebrity clients including the offspring of Denise Richards and Candace Cameron Bure.
And there is no corporate backing, a garment manufacturer or swarthy stage parents to speak of. Cassini’s craft was cultivated on her own fruition at just four years old, when she planned and threw a T-shirt making party for her fifth birthday. At six she received a sewing machine from her grandmother. And come Saturday, Cassini’s age-appropriate line of one-of-a-kind children’s dresses and separates will be sold at a trunk show at Tough Cookies children’s boutique in Sherman Oaks, her very first trunk show ever.
“I like to dress high fashion,” Cassini said earlier today by phone. The way she pairs strands of pearls with an all-white sailing ensemble in a photograph on her website is evident of this highbrow mentality. Yet Cassini’s clothes manage to stay cute and non-revealing, a remarkable feat in a world where kids can’t wait to grow up and show some skin.
Already a world traveler, Cassini collects copies of international fashion magazines picked up on her explorations to locales including Germany, France and Italy, and counts a Marc Jacobs runway show seen on a German jaunt as a favorite fashion memory. Stateside, she subscribes to Vogue and Elle. Though she frequently wears her own designs, Diane Von Furstenberg, Karl Lagerfeld and Louis Vuitton are favorite clothiers.
As for her career path, Cassini–who finishes her homework at school so she can come home and sew–says she has no interest in designing under someone else’s name.
“I want it to be unique. I want them to be my ideas.”
Cecilia Cassini trunk Show at Tough Cookies Children’s Boutique. Saturday, November 14. noon till 4 p.m.
13638 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 990-0972.
www.shoptoughcookies.com
Photo: Cassini sports a multi-patterned top from her “Eco” collection.
Related Posts from The Spiel:
Great story! Thank you so much for your support!
I think it is wonderful to allow children to fulfill their dreams in life. And Amelia is living proof of that. Congratulations Amelia, I mean, ‘Break a thread’.
Hi my name is Briana and I am 10 yrs old. You are an very inspiriring person. I totally love your fashions and my friends love them to. YOU ARE AWESOME AND YOU WILL SO BECOME AN AWESOME FASHIONSTE DESIGNER , OH WAIT YOU ALREADY ARE A GREAT ONE.
this article is very inspiring and gives hope to young girls of all ages…..My boyfriend seen the article and told my 7yr old daughter Hailey about it after she came to us with an elaborate sketching of what she said was the beginning of her designing career. She has been coloring and drawing unique outfits with great complexity instilled throughout entire design. She stunned me this evening when she started speaking of fabrics and techniques needed to complete her ideas……She was so inspired when she saw a 10 yr old girl accomplish what she relates as to be her dream career. Thank You for such an uplifting article. Mother of the Next Fasionista! P.S. would love any info that may help get MY LiL’ Diva started…ha! ha!
I’m so proud of you for working toward your dream. I was 10 when I used a sewing machine for the first time. I sued the spare fabric from a costume my sister made me for a play and begged for extra pattern tissue. I drew a flat doll dress, layered the 2 pieces of fabric and tissue and sewed all the way around. My sisters decided I was serious about sewing and taught me. I’m 50 now and enjoying sewing again after a very long break.