Homespun Talent

By Darien Bates

On Thursday, the George Mason High School seniors walked the runway for a good cause, raising money for the Falls Church Homeless Shelter with their annual charity fashion show.

While most of the clothes were donated by popular stores and designers, one segment featured apparel unavailable anywhere else, designed and created by senior Diana Machamer.

Senior Nora Hemphill models the first dress designed by Diana Machamer. (News-Press photo)

Machamer has worked with clothes since she designed and created outfits for her dolls when she was younger, but it wasn’t until her mother invited her to a TV awards show when she was 15, that she decided to take on the task of making a full size dress, specifically for the occasion.

The decision led to an outing at the fabric store, where she and her mother browsed through the huge variety of options until finally settling on a simple pattern and fabric. Despite the minimalism of the design, Machamer received a plethora of compliments on the dress when she debuted it at the awards show.
Since then, designing clothes has gone from a hobby to a possible career path. Her styles have matured and she is ever on the lookout for new ideas and inspirations. One of her recent pieces, a white sun-dress, was fashioned on Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress from the 1955 movie The Seven Year Itch. At other times she has pulled from contemporary fashion in magazines and TV.

Her work has caught on among her peers. Friends have commissioned her to design dresses for them, and following the awards show on Friday she has already received requests for prom.

After graduating from George Mason, Machamer’s dream is to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology and to one day design her own line of dresses.

At present, though, Machamer is more concerned with finishing up her own prom dress, pink and white satin top, with a chiffon skirt, ensuring she won’t show up in the same dress as anybody else.