ByMarisa

Anna wears ByMarisa Leotard 107 in RED for rehearsal with Evan

2010-05-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

DWTS Eliminees Buzz Aldrin & Ashly Costa PART 2

2010-05-29T20:14:00.002-04:00

Ashly wears ByMarisa unitard 204U in Chocolate

Opening night at DWTS!

2010-04-16T11:36:00.006-04:00

Ashley Costa was one of the first to snag some ByMarisa leotards. Ashley wore style 204U ByMarisa unitard in chocolate paired with a cute floral dress on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

What to choose for the Gifting Suite?

2010-04-15T15:03:00.012-04:00

"I wanted to make individual selections of what style and color would be appropriate for each dancer", said Marisa " I wanted each dancer to feel special, just like I do with all my customers."

So with little time to spare Marisa chose carefully, "I thought princess camisole in turquoise would look great on Niecy Nash, and Kate Gosselin would look lovely in violet".

"It was really nerve wracking to try to match people up without ever having met them in person, but I think it was worth it!"

How did Dancing With The Stars find us?

2010-04-15T14:39:00.004-04:00

After a successful showing at this years' Oscars, Gifting Services , a new company who organizes gifting suites for celebrity events, (Oscars, Golden Globes, Grammys etc.) was selected to run the suite for Dancing With The Stars for the first time.

Sponsers are approached by the company and invited to donate their products in an on site suite exclusively open to celebrities on the show, professional dancers and musical guests. Enter one clever young woman J.S., with Gifting Services who thought, " Why not offer dancewear at the event?" "They all need dancewear!!" and got to work searching for companies on Google.That's when she found our website.

Later on the phone I asked, "Why did you choose us over so many other larger dancewear manufacturers in the US?" J.S. a former New Yorker and dancer herself said she could tell right away that ByMarisa had unusual design and detail, quality construction and beautiful fabrics and colors. In addition, she remarked that Gifting Services likes to help launch relatively unknown smaller companies into the limelight, and that the celebrities appreciate that as well. That coupled with the fact that ByMarisa is manufactured complete in America and in fact all right here in Bethlehem, PA.

So with less than 10 days to prepare, ByMarisa got to work researching the celebrities, professional dancers, judges and hosts and selected individual items for each of them from the full ByMarisa Dancewear and Pilateswear line.

ByMarisa invited to join DWTS gifting suite!!

2010-04-15T14:34:00.004-04:00

ByMarisa was the only dancewear manufacturer invited to offer dancewear to the celebrities at DWTS!
Gifting Services Hosts Premiere Suite celebrating Dancing with the Stars.
Gifting Services Hosts Premiere Suite celebrating Dancing with the Stars attended by over 30 celebrities including Pam Anderson, Marlee Matlin and Kate Gosselin.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
– Mar 23, 2010 – Gifting Services hosted a gift suite celebrating the season 10 premiere of Dancing with the Stars. Located on the lot where the celebrities and their dance partners compete each week, the Suite was open to all cast members, professional dancers, show executives and celebrity audience members. This year the suite featured dozens of products from around the world. Many of the companies that participated are small enterprises and found the opportunity to be greatly beneficial. A-list talented that the suite included: Pamela Anderson, Marlee Matlin and Julianne Hough. Kate Gosselin also visited the suite, meeting and greeting with each company, but asked to have all the products offered to her donated to The Sunshine Project at the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.

The premier celebrity gifting company specializing in on-set and private gift lounges for top celebrities and VIPs. Gifting Services hosted the largest suites during the awards weeks for the Golden Globes, Grammys and Academy Awards.

My friend and mentor on Project Runway!

2010-01-14T12:47:00.002-05:00

Designer Pamela Ptak, a fashion teacher at Allentown's Baum School of Art, to strut her stuff on 'Project Runway

Pamela Ptak is one of the contestants on Project Runway. (MORNING CALL FILE PHOTO)

Pamela Ptak is still glowing from the praise of fashion guru Tim Gunn.

Gunn, during a casting session for the Lifetime TV show ' 'Project Runway,'' called her clothing ''among the most beautifully constructed clothes I've ever seen.''

''It was amazing,'' said the fashion teacher at Allentown's Baum School of Art. ''My skill was at the level he was describing. But I thought, 'Oh my God, you said it on the record.'''

Ptak, who lives outside Riegelsville in Durham Township, was chosen for the popular reality show and tonight begins her quest to win $100,000 and a spread in a fashion magazine. She will compete against 15 other designers on the show. The seventh season starts at 10 p.m.

Ptak tried unsuccessfully two previous years to get on ''Project Runway.'' She was picked from thousands of designers for this year's show, hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and featuring fashion consultant Gunn.

Gunn, whose ''Make it work!'' has become a catchphrase for the show, was just as nice as he seems on the show, Ptak said.

''Tim's like the special uncle who's nice to everyone, but even more so,'' she said. ''He really is that intellectual and charming. He's a pretty darn cool guy.''

At 47, Ptak is this season's oldest contestant. Half of this season's 16 contestants are in their 20s.

It is the second time a designer from the Lehigh Valley has been featured on the show. Bethlehem designer Marla Duran was a contestant in the second season in 2006 and was the sixth to be eliminated. Ptak and Duran have become friends, and will watch tonight's episode together.

Born in Pittsfield, Mass., Ptak studied at Pratt Institute in New York and worked as an art director for advertising agencies before returning to fashion. She started her own line of clothing in 2001.

Ptak, whose name is pronounced using all the letters, designs women's separates and dresses for her ready-to-wear line ''Pamela Ptak,'' and custom couture dresses and gowns under the label ''Ptak Couture.''

She teaches fashion design courses at Drexel University in Philadelphia and has been teaching at Baum for five years.

Ptak promises the audiences will hear her trademark exclamation phrase ''Holy Moley,'' which she picked up from watching ' 'Batman'' as a child and hanging around with her husband, Scott Hanna, a comic book artist.

Hanna is thrilled that his wife has found her calling.

''I'm so excited and proud of her,'' he said. ''I've seen her transform over the years and her quality keeps getting better. It's so cool that everything's coming together and this will show off to the world the talent I've always known she has.''

Ptak describes her fashions as clothes that make a woman comfortable as well as beautiful. Her designs are architectural with clean lines and geometric shapes. She thinks of clothing as wearable sculpture.

''My designs are intellectual,'' she said. ''They are a little surprising, showcasing parts of the anatomy with cutouts and the suggestion of movement.''

Rose Ackerman, Baum School director of development, owns clothes made by Ptak.

''They are sewn beautifully inside and outside,'' Ackerman said. ''She certainly has a passion for fashion. I think her designs are good enough to win -- but you never know what the judges are looking for.''

Ptak auditioned for the show's fifth season at the urging of her fashion students and interns.

To be a really great teacher, you don't just say things, you have to do them,'' she said. ''I always do things I believe in.''

For her first audition in 2007, Ptak took a lot of her couture designs, thinking that was the future direction of her business. But instead the judges preferred her skirts and knitwear.

She nearly made it on the show the following year for Season 6 and got to meet Gunn.

She was confident when she auditioned for the seventh season last spring.

''I was thoroughly convinced I'd made it,'' she said. Nevertheless, she screamed with joy when she got the call telling her she was on the show.

Ptak, who signed a confidentiality agreement with Lifetime, can't reveal many details about her time on ''Project Runway'' until after the shows air.

''I was surprised at the incredible strengths of some people,'' she said. ''They were very diverse. I liked them all.''

She studied the previous seasons' DVDs before the competition, trying to ''inventively guess'' what kind of challenges she might face. Competitors have had to create clothing using only plants and flowers, and to design a costume for a female wrestler. ''It makes your brain start thinking differently,'' she said.

Ptak is excited about seeing how the show portrays her.

''Cameras were always around and you started forgetting they were there,'' she said. ''Who knows what they caught on camera -- hopefully nothing too outrageous. There's a bit of 'I Love Lucy' in me. But you have to not care if the world sees your quirky, interesting self.''

Former ''Project Runway'' contestant Duran chatted over the Internet with Ptak, and the two designers decided to get together to watch the show.

''It's like being a member of a club,'' Duran said. ''You don't know what it's like until you've been there.''

Duran said the show benefited her business, which she runs out of a boutique in south Bethlehem.

''Women around the country wear my clothes,'' Duran said. ''People recognize me when I travel and ask me about it all the time.''

Duran said it's ''completely fun to have someone else from the area on the show. It says something for what's going on in the Lehigh Valley.''

Ptak agrees.

''The Lehigh Valley could be a fashion center again, like it was in the heyday of Hess's [department store],'' she said.

kathy.lauer@mcall.com

NYCB gets more weeks for Fall Lineup

2010-01-07T16:37:00.002-05:00

Opera Cedes Dates to City Ballet in Lincoln Center Deal

By ROBIN POGREBIN

Published: January 6, 2010

Starting this year the New York City Ballet will be taking over full use of the Lincoln Center theater that it shares with New York City Operafor four weeks in September and October — severely curtailing theopera company’s fall season — as part of an agreement that will give the opera some relief from its forthcoming building payments.

The new arrangement will allow City Ballet to present its first fall season of repertory performances since 1965.

In exchange $9 million of the opera’s tenancy expenses will be covered by a capital campaign fund shared by the two companies. The opera had requested that amount as reimbursement for revenue it lost during the renovation of the former New York State Theater, which was renamed for a major donor to the fund, David H. Koch, and reopened in November. (The ballet season was not interrupted by construction.)

In recent years the opera has started performances as early as the week after Labor Day, meaning the ballet has not begun performing until late November, when it rolled out its winter season with “The Nutcracker.” Peter Martins, City Ballet’s ballet master in chief, said he had long been frustrated by the six months of downtime that have followed the end of his spring season. The ballet normally performs through February, when the opera returns; ballet picks up again in the spring.

For the full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/arts/dance/07ballet.html?emc=eta1#

2010-01-07T16:30:00.003-05:00

Join our blog! Now you can add comments on our Testimonials page under "What they're Saying" tab. Tell us where you wear ByMarisa designs!

ByMarisa's new costumes for The Knickerbocker Suite

2009-12-02T08:44:00.013-05:00

ByMarisa creates costumes for the world premiere of Manhattan Movement & Arts Center's new Nutcracker set in New York City.

When former NYCB colleagues Francois Perron and Deborah Wingert Arkin asked Marisa to help them with their new New York City based Knickerbocker Suite, she said "YES!" right away.

Never having designed or constructed romantic tutus before, Marisa called upon all her fond memories of wearing the beautiful costumes at the New York City ballet designed by Madame Karinska.

Just like her dancewear, Marisa wanted to create something that was lovely to look at, built of luxurious fabrics and made the dancer feel beautiful. So she did the only sensible thing ... she created a tutu completely out of stretch! Because the costumes would have to last for years and multiple casts to come, Marisa used her signature stretch velvets to create 10 panel bodices built on spandex basques and dance pants. Even the tulle is gathered on invisible elastic!

Check out the full photo album on our Facebook Fan page

ByMarisa

Webber Moves 'Phantom' to Coney Island

2009-10-08T09:04:00.002-04:00

Producers say the sequel will be ''a rollercoaster ride of obsession and intrigue.'' It is set 10 years after the Phantom's mysterious disappearance from Paris. Funny, I left Phantom almost 10 years ago... I wonder what they say happened to the ladies of the ballet chorus...? They became dancewear designers?

(AP) -- The Phantom of the Opera is coming back -- but this time, he'll be haunting the amusement park at New York's Coney Island rather than the Paris opera house.

Star composer Andrew Lloyd Webber on Thursday announced a long-awaited sequel to his massively successful ''Phantom of the Opera,'' one of the world's best loved and longest running musicals.

The new production will be called ''Love Never Dies.'' It is due to open in London in March of next year. The musical will also be staged in New York beginning November 2010 and will open in Australia in 2011.

The musical picks up a decade after the original's conclusion, and has the Phantom trading his customary hideout beneath the Paris opera house for Coney Island, the iconic Brooklyn amusement park known for its roller coasters and ''Nathan's Famous'' hot dogs.

Webber said he wanted to produce a sequel because the conclusion of the original was too boring.

The original hit musical, a longtime fixture on the London and New York stages, featured elaborate staging and songs like ''The Music of the Night,'' and ''All I Ask of You.''

Based on the French novel by Gaston Leroux, the play has been seen by more than 100 million people worldwide and has been translated into 15 languages and staged in 25 different countries, including Brazil, China and Poland.

The album of the show has sold more than 40 million copies.

Producers say the sequel will be ''a rollercoaster ride of obsession and intrigue.'' It is set 10 years after the Phantom's mysterious disappearance from Paris.

Few details were released Thursday, but a new official Web site devoted to the sequel shows an early trans-Atlantic ocean liner making a voyage across the sea.

Tickets for the London shows at the Adelphi Theatre were placed on sale Thursday and fans were also told they could pre-order the album of the show's tunes.

Broadway-Bound Michael Cerveris Travels to South Pacific to Visit Brother Todd

2009-10-06T21:10:00.005-04:00

Such devoted siblings! South Pacific seabee Todd Cerveris gets a congratulatory squeeze from his sister Marisa and brother Michael.

Broadway Photos | Broadway.com

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The New York Times addresses the problem

2009-08-28T07:40:00.001-04:00

New York’s garment center, once the heart of an industry that employed hundreds of thousands of workers and produced most of the clothing in the United States, is in danger of extinction.

For decades, cheaper foreign competitors and rising rents forced many of the sewing and cutting rooms and the button and zipper shops that once thrived on the side streets south of Times Square to close, shrink or move as mass production shifted to China, India and Latin America.

Now, even the remaining factories and shops that make the couture coats, dresses and other apparel for glamorous fashion designers like Nicole Miller, Yeohlee Teng, Anna Sui and Nanette Lepore are in jeopardy. Owners say they are caught in a vise between declining retail sales and landlords eager to find better-paying tenants.

Some city officials and industry leaders worry that if manufacturing is wiped out, many of the designers who bring so much luster to New York will leave, along with the city’s claim to be a fashion capital rivaling Paris and Milan.

The Bloomberg administration is now considering designating one or more large buildings in the garment center solely for manufacturing and related businesses.

The Shrinking Garment Industry

2009-08-28T07:33:00.002-04:00

Part of our mission at ByMarisa is to provide quality clothing produced within the borders of the United States. Painfully, we watch as large manufacturers choose to send their work overseas to save production costs. What kind of message does that send to the skilled laborers in America?

New York’s garment center, once the heart of an industry that employed hundreds of thousands of workers and produced most of the clothing in the United States, is in danger of extinction. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/nyregion/20garment.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=garment%20industry'&st=cse

ByMarisa Meets the Prez!

2009-08-14T18:52:00.002-04:00

Costumes for de Ribere's Autumn

2009-08-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

We were honored to be asked to create the costumes for Darla Hoover's staging of "Autumn" by Lisa de Ribere. You can see the rest over at our Facebook page.

NY Times, Ballet and the Recession

2009-07-24T22:07:00.000-04:00

Never let it be said that the Arts aren't suffering during the recession. NYCB was recently forced to lay off 11 of it'sThe Times has an interesting piece that talks to two of the dancers about their future plans. You can watch it here.

Testimonials Page

2009-01-27T20:36:00.003-05:00

Love ByMarisa Designs? Here's where you can tell the world. Leave a message in the comment field and feel free to upload a picture to our gallery.

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