UNCG grad presents fashion line, Nouveau

At 7:10 p.m. the store lights dimmed and the spot lights came on. About 100 people were jammed into the small vintage clothing store on Tate Street, where the clothing racks were pushed aside to make room for a skinny cat walk. The cause? To watch the premier of the store's own, Kelly Cox's clothing line.

Cox, a 2007 Textile, Design and Marketing graduate of UNCG presented her line of "upcycled vintage" clothing, Nouveau, at Design Archives on Friday.

Cox started interning with the store in May of 2007 and continued working there until Halloween. During her internship Cox mostly repaired damaged clothing that the store received, replacing buttons, fixing a seam, or hiding a stain. The following year the store's owner, Kit Rodenbough asked her to do remakes. These remakes were more one of a kind. Cox hopes to differentiate from those remakes and her line; pieces that are still one of a kind but will have the same style. This is how Cox came to begin thinking "outside the box" as she says, and start completely redesigning the clothing.

Cox's original goal was to sell her clothing line to stores or boutiques, but since getting recently hired at Bonaventure in Burlington, the parent company to Peaches N Cream, a children's fashion design company, now she's unsure. "I wasn't even looking for another job!" said Cox. While Cox really likes working with Bonaventure she's not sure what it means for her clothing line. "There is a lot of creative freedom there," she said.

In terms of what she hoped for the show Cox said, "I really just want people to come. Yes, I want people to buy my clothes, but it's more important to me to get my name out there. I just want people to have fun. "

And they did. The small store was so full of people that about thirty stood outside to watch the show through the window.

Afterward guests were invited to talk to Cox about her clothing if they had wanted to arrange a fitting.

Cox also designs jewelry and headbands made of feather, which were shown during the show.