By Brian LaMuraglia
In a world where not every woman fits a size six, one fashion designer is teaching women how to make sexy — and comfortable — clothes.
Adua Celantano from Cliffside Park strives to make every woman look and feel exquisite.
She’ll be sharing her sartorial secrets on Sept. 24, 2016, at 10 am in the Morristown & Township Library, where the North Jersey Sewing Circle has become a popular attraction.
“The people that come, they learn what fits them and when they move [in the clothes] it’s beautiful. It works for the individual,” said Celentano, a native of Italy known affectionately as Mrs. C. to her students.
Once a month since the creation of the circle one year ago, about 40 sewing enthusiast gather in the library’s lower level to share ideas and learn new techniques. All are welcomed, no matter the skill level.
“I would come to a certain roadblock sewing, and get stuck,” said librarian Carolyn Dorsey, creator of the sewing circle. “I thought to myself how nice it would be to have friends to help talk through it with.”
But the club was missing one integral piece. So Dorsey reached out to Celantano, author of Patterned After Me. Dorsey heard of Celentano and decided to knock on her front door and ask her to head the sewing group. The book teaches readers to make clothes that fit well and look spectacular.
Celentano discovered her love of fashion at age 5. She was taught by nuns and her mother, like every girl in Calabria, Italy, who wanted to sew.
But that wasn’t enough for her.
At 19, Celentano joined an exchange student program that brought her to New York.
There, amongst the skyscrapers, she resolved to make it big in the fashion world.
Her first job in New York was working with silk for a Thai woman. After five years, she was ready for something more.
“Designing is okay. But what about teaching and expressing myself with others?” Celentano said.
She decided to become a teacher, and was offered a position at the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology. Celentano spent nine years there. She also taught at Marymount College, and now teaches at Bergen Community College.
And for the last 40 years, she has run Adua Inc., her couture design business.
At the next meeting of the North Jersey Sewing Circle, Celentano will show how to make three different skirts from one pattern. Admission is free. Meetings last about three hours.
