Young Vermont designer is dressing for success
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Toolbox
By SUSAN YOUNGWOOD Staff Writer - Published: April 29, 2007
Morgan Glines follows the fashion industry like some people follow sports. He talks about Givenchy and Christian Dior the way other Vermonters talk about Curt Schilling and David Ortiz.
He thinks nothing of spending 40 hours meticulously hand-pleating a custom-designed garment. His new line, 10 outfits and accessories molded to the theme "Sexy Secretary," will be featured in the spring fashion show at a boutique in Montpelier.
He's just 17. One day, if his dreams come true, Vogue and W and Elle and Harpers will be featuring his work.
But right now, this high school junior is busy designing, fitting and sewing prom dresses for his classmates at Montpelier High School.
Allena Tomasi, a senior, strips off her jeans and sweatshirt and shimmies into the gold dress Glines designed for her.
"It's just a little loose around the waist," Tomasi says, standing in the dining room of Glines' family home. The dining table is his work space; the tools of his trade — including a dressmaker's dummy, computer and vintage sewing machine — clutter the room.
Glines tugs and pulls at the dress, pins in hand. He's wearing a black T-shirt, jeans with a Marilyn Monroe belt buckle, and a Burberry cap.
"I can take off about an inch," he says as he carefully pins through the fabric. "I know you said you wanted this pretty low. How's the back, is this tight enough? I think we should make it tighter and I'll add another pin in it and mark the spot."
It all started with Barbie.
The young Morgan's first outfit was a hole punched into fabric for the 11-1/2-inch-tall doll. His grandmother taught him to use a sewing machine; his mother, Sarah Halpine, showed him how to hand sew.
"He told me when he was 4 that he wanted to be a designer," recalls Halpine, who encourages his budding career. "I asked if he knew what that was. He said, 'Yes, they make beautiful dresses for women.'"
Barbie was his first client. "When I first started sewing, I spent hours making Barbie clothes," Glines says. First he used patterns, then after four or five years he started altering them to his own specs.
In middle school, he didn't like store-bought clothes. "I started chunking stuff up," he says — cutting up clothing and sewing in different fabric. In eighth grade, he designed and made most of the costumes for two school productions. That's also when he started making prom gowns. In high school, he's designed costumes for drama productions, most recently "The Philadelphia Story."
"'Philadelphia Story' was perfect for me," Glines explains. "History is very important for me in design. I wanted to pay my respects to Adrian and Madeline Vionette." (Adrian was known for dressing Hollywood stars in the mid-1900s; Vionette was a French designer in the 1920s.)
This summer, he'll be taking design classes in New York City at the Pratt Institute pre-college program. Next year, since he's finished his academic requirements, he'll be studying cosmetology at the Barre Technical Center (a plan that he says gave his guidance counselor conniptions, given his extremely high PSAT scores: "I care about lip gloss," Glines says. "I don't want a doctorate.")
He hopes to major in fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. His dream job is to be head designer for Jean Paul Gaultier — best known for the stage costumes Gaultier designed for Madonna.
Glines has a busy schedule leading up to the prom on May 12. On Mondays, he meets with a new client and goes fabric shopping with her at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Wednesdays, his client tries on the sample he made in muslin. Sunday is the final fitting, when minor adjustments are made; the dress is delivered Monday morning.
He charges $75 for his work, plus the cost of fabric.
He plans to make eight prom dresses this year, and plans to use his earnings to buy designer jeans.
But what he really, really wants to do is design haute couture. Glines has strong opinions on fashion design.
"Construction is more exciting to me than silhouettes," he says. "… I'm of the school where a dress should stand up without you in it."
His portfolio of black-and-white sketches is stunning. "My focus is on design and not color," he explains. "Color can be distracting." He's designed 10 outfits he hopes to make for the June fashion show at the downtown boutique, Damsels. "Forties glamour," he says. "Sexy but not carnal. I like doing sexy without having miles and miles of skin showing."
His designs are heavily corseted and use vintage-style fabrics. "I'm not totally outlandish," he says, "but I can't see most of my designs going down the street in Burlington, for example."
"What I love about designing and sewing is that I can be incredibly meticulous," he says. "I am an incredible perfectionist. I can tell you pretty seriously, there is nothing I care about more than my work."
Emma Bay-Hansen, co-owner of Damsels, confirms that Glines is the real deal. "He really knows his stuff; he is super talented," she says.
Glines has presented his designs at two Damsels fashion shows. "He not only makes great clothing, but he has a great presentation. He did (the models') makeup and hair and nails and accessories. He completes it from A to Z, with no details left unturned. He has an eye. He came out and explained all his inspirations, name-dropping all these designers I don't know.
"He will absolutely become a fashion designer. We're going to hear his name again."
Standing in front of a mirror, Allena Tomasi pivots and preens. Glines works around her bust, adjusting the fabric and explaining how to use Hollywood tape (double-sided tape for holding garments in place).
"I like how it is here," he says, pointing to the back. "It elongates your neck."
"I'm excited to get something made," Tomasi says. "I've told everybody. I'm really comfortable with Morgan. It's his nice vibe."
"And that I'm out," Glines says.
"Yeah," agrees Tomasi.
He came out last year.
"It's futile to keep it hidden. I read Vogue during chemistry," he says. His interests "made it difficult for years and years and years, until I got good and everyone loved me." He sighs. "It was validating in a sad way."
"When I came out, I kind of became the popular guy in school," he says. "I was every girl's best gay friend. But it's kind of lonely. There are no out guys this year. I really don't have any friends who share my interests."
And so he relies on the Internet for like-minded souls. Mainly through MySpace, he's met other people interested in fashion, ranging from teenagers to professional designers. His virtual friends answer his questions, give him advice, send him pictures of historical designs. A fan of the television show "Project Runway," he's entered design competitions on discussion boards about the show — and even won a few times.
One of his Internet buddies is Marcus Roche, who owns a men's swimwear store in Ventura, Fla. Roche has seen Glines' sketches and designs, helped him find fabrics and even sold a couple of his designs in his store. When he discovered that the talented person he was virtually chatting with is a teenager, "I was very shocked, really quite shocked," he says.
"It's mind-blowing. He really is talented," Roche says. "He's very free-form. He takes a shape and completely makes a story out of it."
Outside the Internet, Glines subscribes to four fashion magazines, devours books on the history of fashion and visits New York City whenever possible.
"Other people get homesick," he says. "I get New York sick. I miss Madison Avenue. I need to go hug Dior."
Sometimes it's easy to forget he's a teenager. He's opinionated and passionate and talented. But then, when he declines to let me visit his bedroom, the true teen comes out. His room is a mess.
"My mom said I can't buy Dior jeans unless I clean my room."
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