When Vanessa Emirian isn’t helping to put together haute couture collections for Jean Paul Gaultier, she’s making one-of-a-kind pieces in her Paris-based atelier.
For the UTS Fashion and Textiles graduate, it’s the latest step in a long-held career dream that started back when she was 12 years old.
“My mum gave me her sewing machine, and I started to learn how to sew. I was just captivated by it,” says Vanessa, who has been based in the City of Lights since 2015.
That obsession led her to the UTS Bachelor of Fashion and Textiles and then into the postgraduate garment design program at Institut Français de la Mode in Paris – her first step toward establishing herself in the French fashion industry.
“I was very intent on living in Europe. I chose Paris because of its rich history in craftsmanship and savoire faire.
“That’s something that’s really kept me in fashion, my love for craftsmanship and making beautiful products.”
Breaking through
Breaking into the fashion industry was a lot of hard work, but in 2016, Vanessa finally got her big break: an internship that later led to a design position with Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens, former creative director for the French maisons Rochas and Nina Ricci and beloved by the global fashion scene.
“That was an amazing position, because I was quite integral to the business and I got to grow a lot with the company,” says Vanessa, whose role involved extensive travel in Italy, Portugal and France.
“I diversified my skills by working across many different product categories, including knitwear and shoes. I also honed my expertise in corsets and evening wear, which were the specialty of the brand.”
The job also brought with it a wealth of industry connections. After leaving Theyskens in 2020, Vanessa found herself fielding contract offers from some of the world’s leading fashion houses, including Yves St Laurent and Jean Paul Gaultier, and working on high-profile projects like Kylie Jenner’s 2023 Met Gala dress.
“I’ve been working with the brand for the last couple of haute couture fashion shows,” says Vanessa of her ongoing collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier.
“It’s an amazing team where anything seems possible — we drape and sew the most exquisite pieces for the runway shows.”
Combining technical with practical
It’s a path that only the most skilled designers will be invited to take, but it’s one that Vanessa felt more than ready for, in part thanks to the skills she gained at UTS.
During her undergraduate degree, she says, students were pushed to combine design history, theory and research with hands-on fashion and textiles practice. This included hours spent sewing, making patterns and constructing textiles, among others, in UTS’s world-class maker space.
Combined with extensive training in the Adobe Creative Suite, the course curriculum prepared students for both the technical elements of creating a design and the practical skills to bring it to life.
The teachers were really focused on us being industry ready, but at the same time, the school was very conceptual and design focused.
UTS encouraged me to expand my ideas and concepts into new places that I could never have imagined at the start.
It’s training that has given Vanessa both the competence and confidence to pursue her dream of a Parisian fashion career, which culminated in the opening of her studio/atelier in early 2022.
Here, she works one-on-one with clients, collaborating with them to develop and produce unique one-off designs using craftsmanship that honours her expertise in savoir-faire.
“I listen to my clients’ stories, their emotions, and by creating and sharing the unique pieces I make for them, fashion becomes a way for me to connect with others,” she says.
And it’s exactly where she wants to be.
“I gave the better part of 10 years to building other people’s visions, and I’m just so excited about building my own and being known for what I do,” Vanessa says.
“When people think of a fine French lace or a liquid silk dress, I want them to think of me.”
