Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1197129
Knitwear 82 The Costume Designer Winter 2020 KATE O'CONNER kateoconnor.net Kate O'Conner is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, with a BFA in fiber art. During college, a dear friend taught her how to crochet which lit a spark that forever influenced her career. After graduating and moving to Los Angeles, O'Conner taught her- self how to knit on a 1950s flatbed knitting machine and founded Kate O'Conner Designs. Her heavy hitter clientele includes Brooke Shields, Jennifer Lopez, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Christy Turlington, Keith Richards, Johnny Depp, and many others. Her designs have graced the covers of numerous magazines, such as Vogue, Glamour, and InStyle. Going more corpo- rate from 2006-2018, O'Conner worked with fashion labels Joie and Elizabeth & James, finally settling into an extended tenure at Vince, where she spent seven years building her own men's knitwear de- partment from the bottom up. Over the last 20 years, O'Conner worked professionally in high- end knitwear manufacturing, she was also afforded the opportunity to work with Costume Designers such as Betsy Heimann for movies like Vanilla Sky (2001) and Rise: Blood Hunter (2007). They most recently worked together on Heimann's newest sci-fi action feature CUSTOM KNITWEAR By Bonnie Nipar starring Chris Pratt, due out in 2020. "Executing Betsy's clear and unique vision to her high standards was certainly thrilling," recounts O'Conner. "We each bring such an interesting level of expertise to the concept." This particular project required engineering a pattern and fabric that did not physically exist in any single knitwear tech- nique. In fact, it incorporated elements that simply do not exist together at all. Some people may shy away from these types of chal- lenges, but O'Conner admits she's most defi nitely attracted to them! Before accepting the project, O'Conner made sure she had a factory that could execute on the highest level, and she could trust to meet her deadlines. Brainstorming and experimenting with the manufac- turer, they literally invented and engineered their own sweater fab- ric, then added texture by applying different bits of opposing yarns and woven fabrics to give the high-low feel to the fi nal sweater. CD Heimann praises, "The knitwear that Kate O'Conner produced for me is extraordinary. Our collaboration was so fantastic. She's a master. I want to share her name and talents with all of our colleagues." O'Conner is exuberant, "It was challenging, fun, and very rewarding to be at the fi tting and hear Betsy, Chris, and her ACDs be so thrilled with the out- come. It was the highlight of my career!"