New York- Couture is alive and well at the atelier of Frank Tignino, off Seventh Avenue in New York City.
Tignino’s clients come here to work with a true designer, who studied the art of dress making with the old masters, and brings those legendary techniques to clothes that work for the busy executive and professional woman. His clothes take time, and his clients know they are worth the wait.
He begins by building a dress form for each client, made to exacting measurements of her body. Every toile is draped on the body. His dresses are built from inside out, using materials as super organza, hymo, gazar and flannel. A fine mesh from Italy becomes “la corsalette.” The body is shrunk into the inner construction so there is a form that perfects the wearer’s own. And then, and then only then, does that which is seen – the fashion – take shape. While the techniques are time tested, Tignino’s design approach is thoroughly modern.
The artistry of the cut and finishing of the clothes would not be possible with the hands, the skillful, irreplaceable hands of Tignino’s workroom. The tailors, the cutter, the finishers, they bring each custom order to live and allow Tignino to fulfill his credo of quality and integrity. He says, “My designs are created to last a lifetime and make my clients look and feel beautiful.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Frank Tignino gained his knowledge of Hollywood glamour and made-to-order fashion by apprenticing with Don Loper – designer to MGM stars, Lucille Ball and Loretta Young – and with Michael Novarese, couturier to Hollywood legends Ann Miller, Lana Turner and Peggy Lee. He came to New York and designed ready-to-wear collections under his own name. Before opening his own custom business, Tignino was design director for Geoffrey Beene, designing the secondary collections and directing the made-to-order division. He attended the Chouinard School, studying fine arts and fashion design and received the school’s Golden Thimble Award in Fashion Design.
