STORY:
A Stitch in Time for New Year's Eve

A once in a lifetime outfit to welcome a once in a lifetime event

We’ll only get to see a new millennium once in our lifetime and a clothes designer in the south wants to make sure were dressed for the party. A Lewisburg designer is custom making clothes for the celebration of the century.

Debra McClung, owner of Debra’s House of Design, is sketching up a wardrobe for you. McClung says it’s the biggest party in modern day history and you have to make sure it’s memorable. McClung is making sure you can make a millennium fashion statement as Year 2000 dawns.

Debra’s House of Design in Lewisburg South Carolina is introducing the "Millennium Ball Collection"; a group of one-of-kind gowns tailored to clients' individual needs. McClung will make a dress to fit your boy style, taste, color palette and personal wishes.

Getting the perfect gown or outfit for New Year’s Eve takes more than picking it off a rack in a store. The first step is a consultation with clients to see what they are looking for the night. The consultation cost $125, which is applied to the cost of the gown.

The next step is to decide what type of fabric you would want and the color that would best suit your needs for the evening. Then there’s a fitting and discussion on how best to accessorize the new design.

"It’s very important how a garment feels on you on how much you’ll enjoy the rest of the evening" McClung told the Charleston Gazette. "I think we’re going to have a big variety".

While ball gowns are going to be big this year, there is also a market for more casual outfits like loungewear motifs that McClung is designing. Every single design is different and that’s the beauty of it.

If you have a piece of heirloom jewelry or a piece of antique or family clothing you want to incorporate into a design that can be done. Anything goes when you are designing your own clothes.

For McClung this is just the first step in what she hopes will be a long career in the fashion industry.

The veteran interior designer hopes this ball collection will catch the eye of the industry and propel her to stardom much like Laura Ashley has done.

"What I’ve always waned to do is do some collections for retailers, I enjoy doing totally different concepts in design each time." McClung said.

So you want your own gown how much is it going to cost you? The prices range from $400 to $1,500, with a cutoff date of November 30 for an initial consultation. One thing for sure when you have a custom made dress, no one else at the party will be wearing the same thing as you.

Next year Debra will take her fashion to the runway with a charity fashion show. The show will raise money for the David B. McClung Cancer Research Fellowship. The fellowship honors the designer’s husband, a dentist, who died four years ago of Hodgkin’s disease.

Source: The Charleston Gazette

DATE: 11/16/99

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