Words by Maya Salam, New York Times News Service
In a sixth-floor walk-up apartment in the East Village of Manhattan, in a space no wider than a train car, a Met Gala gown was created. First in the mind of its designer, Katya Ekimian, a 19-year-old Parsons School of Design student, and then from yards of fabric previously piled in bags in a corner.
Late last month in Ekimian’s apartment, which faces the building’s interior but is flooded with light, paper patterns were strewn like blueprints, fabric panels were stacked and muslin toile hung on the back of her bedroom door.
‘I had to move my furniture to lie down the fabric to cut the circle skirt,’ Ekimian said, punctuating the sentence with a booming, easy laugh that peppers all her statements. ‘You don’t have to be anywhere special to make something you’re proud of.’
The gown — sleek and full length, made from black and blue brocade with rope details, a drop waist and an elaborate neckline — is not for just anyone, but then again, not just anyone is invited to the Met Ball.
Katya Ekimian, left, and the dress she is creating at her apartment for Sandra Jarva Weiss, right, in New York, April 23, 2018. The 19-year-old Parsons School of Design student is making the dress that Weiss, a lawyer and wife of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s president, will wear to the Met Gala, one of the most scrutinized fashion events in the world. Image: Nina Westervelt, The New York Times.
It was custom-made for Sandra Jarva Weiss, the wife of Daniel Weiss, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it nods to this year’s theme: ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.’
‘Unstoppable,’ ‘passionate,’ ‘self-reliant’ and ‘talented’ are all words Jarva Weiss, a lawyer for a midtown firm, used to describe Ekimian in just a matter of minutes. ‘She has a very infectious spirit,’ said Jarva Weiss, who asked Ekimian earlier this year to create her dress.
Aside from attending Parsons and creating sportswear for an international brand, Ekimian baby-sits, cooks in homes and caters parties. If you haven’t met Ekimian, it would be easy to think her life story was a yarn spun of exaggerations, but if anything, she seems to downplay her accomplishments, occasionally sprinkling in some self-deprecation. ‘I dress like early 2000s Mark Zuckerberg — all hoodies and Adidas slides,’ she said, joking, but not.
Katya Ekimian adjusts the hem of the dress she is creating at her apartment for Sandra Jarva Weiss, standing, in New York, April 23, 2018. The 19-year-old Parsons School of Design student is making the dress that Weiss, a lawyer and wife of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s president, will wear to the Met Gala, one of the most scrutinized fashion events in the world. Image: Nina Westervelt, The New York Times.
At Parsons, Ekimian tends to tailor her projects toward athletic wear, but Jarva Weiss’ Met Gala gown is not her first foray into formal wear. For Ekimian, designing for the Met Gala is a full-circle moment. Growing up, she would follow the event online every year with her mother, Elizabeth Arrott, who is a journalist. Before Jarva Weiss’ gown, Ekimian’s senior prom dress was the favourite garment she had made. It was inspired by the Met Gala’s 2015 theme, ‘China: Through the Looking Glass.’ ‘It was a floor-length silk brocade red and gold dragon-printed dress,’ she said.
Egypt was the perfect place to learn to sew, said Ekimian, who is self-taught. “Fabric was so inexpensive, and there was so much, I just started busting stuff out.” And no material was off limits.
Featured Image: Nina Westervelt, The New York Times
