Camille Yanair is passionate about designing dresses.
Yanair, a fourth-year English and secondary education student, puts her heart into each dress.
“Because I hand-sew, it takes me between three and six hours to make a dress,” Yanair said. “I can do prep work and sell a lot of them at my apartment. Because of the job I have, I can sit there and sew up some seams while I’m at work sometimes.”
But unlike most people who design dresses, she’s not in it for the money.
“They run really cheap. I’ve been told they’re too cheap. Right now, I’m not making any profit on them. I actually end up with negative 95 cents, not counting the time spent. Base prices are $10, and I’m working my way up.”
But for her, it’s more about doing what she loves.
“My adopted grandmother taught me how to sew when I really little,” Yanair said. “I’ve been cutting up fabric since I was real young, like three or four. She said I made something for myself this summer and people were like, “that was cute.” It was my dream job, so I figured why not try it now.”
When working with customers, Yanair said she tries to be flexible in making sizes exact to customer’s needs.
“I can really do a range of sizes since I don’t really have that many on my Web site,” Yanair said. “If you contact me, I can really do it to your specifications.”
When she’s not working on dresses, Yanair works at Carolina Callers. Charlie Maxwell, a recent USC graduate and one of Yanair’s best friends, said her work ethic is amazing.
“She is one of the most creative people I know,” he said. “Her dresses are fresh, one of a kind. She puts a lot of dedication and creativity with hard work behind each dress.”
Maxwell also said each dress that Camille produces is a labor of love.
“She just tries to make a dress fun and exciting for girls our age to enjoy wearing.”
Kimberly Peagler, a fourth-year early childhood education student from Columbia College, met Yanair in elementary school.
“They’re really cute, they’re really interesting,” Peagler said. “They’re not like the typical patterns that you would normally see together. She’s not afraid to experiment in putting things together.”
And though she’s not making money now, she hopes to turn her passion into a career.
“When I look at dresses that are like $100 in the store, and for all the fabric it would cost me $10 in three hours. Also so I can say ‘hey I made mine,’" Yanair said. “I just love designing them.”
Yanair said students can purchase her dresses by contacting her through Facebook.
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