Watch: Leading Maltese Fashion Designer – I Started Sewing Wedding Dresses When I Was Only Four Years Old
One of Malta’s best-known haute couture fashion designers, Cessani owner Mary Grace Pisani, has revealed that her roots in the industry formed when she was only four years old.
During an interview with Trudy Kerr on The She Word, Pisani recounted how she spent a lot of time with her aunt – a professional seamstress – growing up.
“I was only four years old and she would give me a list of four or five wedding dresses and tell me to sew hems for them. If I made a mistake, I had to do them all again,” she said.
“I don’t think the brides knew a four-year-old was doing their dresses, but I’m saying it now because it happened a while ago so I’m quite safe.”
Pisani said that when her first son turned four years old, she was stunned at how her aunt made her get her hands dirty at such a young age.
“I asked my mother why my aunt made me sew hems and stitches at that age, and she told me that I should thank her.”
Pisani kept sewing until her teenage years when, frustrated at how fashion work was ruining her social life, she broke her sewing machine in protest. However, she kept making clothes for herself and when she was in her early twenties, a friend approached her to craft a suit from a piece of striped raw silk.
“I told her I didn’t think I could do that; striped fabric is very difficult because you have to match everything. I was shocked and scared and told her I won’t be responsible if something goes wrong,” she recounted.
Pisani put her mind to the task and said the final product turned out beautiful that she was reluctant to part with it. When she showed it to her client, it turns out her friend had made the request simply to ignite her to get into the fashion industry and start sewing for people.
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“She is still my biggest friend, she is like a mother to me, and from that moment onwards I literally wondered why I wasn’t doing this before.”
Besides her one-on-one interview, Pisani also recently took part in a The She Word panel discussion with fellow Maltese fashion designers Carla Grima and Roberta Stivala.
The She Word is a roundtable discussion show on women’s issues led by veteran interviewer Trudy Kerr, which is broadcast on Lovin Malta every Thursday.
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