SmartGlamour's Fall Flowering
Inclusive luxury hits full bloom in designer Mallorie Dunn's new 10-piece, floral-inspired capsule collection.
“Flowers are strong. So am I. So are you,” said SmartGlamour founder Mallorie Dunn in her artistic statement at the unveiling of a new floral-inspired 10-piece capsule collection in New York earlier this month.
"I’ve always loved flowers but at some point as a young adult, I got it in my head that wearing overly girly things wasn’t for me,” Dunn told
The designer is no stranger to clearing hurdles, paving paths, and breaking barriers.
Dunn launched DTC fashion brand SmartGlamour in 2014, offering sustainable, size-inclusive ready-to-wear before the body-positive movement was omnipresent and fashion was held widely accountable for its serious waste problem. SmartGlamour, according to Dunn, was message-driven from its inception.
"I wanted to fix many of the issues I saw in the fashion industry and offer a more accessibly-priced, ethical option while also offering clothing to a large portion of the population that was being left out.”
For a decade, SmartGlamour produced multiple collections per year—many of which launched with size-inclusive runway shows—and garnered a global clientele thanks to its model that offered ready-to-wear styles with customizable sizing. The brand was thriving. Dunn, however, was struggling.
"I was doing everything myself. I made all of the clothes myself. And by the end, I was just super burned out.”
Dunn, who graduated from Pratt with an art and design education degree, pivoted her brand toward teaching and fashion education— a move she says “saved SmartGlamour and saved me.” Now an adjunct professor in the fashion department at The Fashion Institute of Technology (where she also earned an associate’s degree), Dunn teaches a handful of classes to undergrad, pre-college, and continuing education students. Teaching courses from sewing and draping to upcycling and inclusive pattern-making, Dunn’s extensive industry experience—which includes stints in corporate fashion—is shaping the new generation of fashion students and makers.
“Becoming a teacher re-introduced me to the concept of why I’m interested in design in the first place,” said Dunn. “I’m teaching all these students who—20 years ago—were me.”
Interestingly enough, a field trip with one of Dunn’s draping classes planted the seed for SmartGlamour’s new capsule collection.
“I like to teach students how to find inspiration everywhere, and not just by looking at other designers’ clothes,” said Dunn. To help inspire her students’ term garments, she took the class to see an exhibition of x-ray portraits of flowers.
"I wasn’t thinking of designing something based on the exhibit. I was just enjoying the art,” said Dunn. But soon after, something began to bloom.
“I was on the train one day listening to music and out of nowhere I thought of an idea for a dress involving a flower. I happened to have a notebook in my bag, so took it out and drew the dress,” Dunn recalled.
It was just a sketch—like countless she had drawn before—but something about this one felt different.
“For so long, everything I designed was coming from this commerce-based place. At that moment I realized I hadn’t sketched an idea for a fashion design based solely on my interests and pure creativity in over a decade.”
Feeling deeply inspired by the inherent patterns in flowers, Dunn spent the next year designing concepts for dresses. She wasn’t working against a firm deadline—something the long-time designer never had the luxury to do. That freedom, she insists, helped the collection come to life.
“As I decided to create this art, I wanted to focus on things I truly enjoy and feel inspired by,” said Dunn. True to so much of her work over the years, Dunn wanted to create high-end, luxury garments that are accessible in size and celebrate body types that have long been excluded in the world of fashion.
“It’s not very often that plus size people have access to a bias cut gown made of 100% silk,” said Dunn. “I hope this work will shine a light on who is allowed or not allowed to participate in high-end, gallery-worthy garments and fashion conversations.”
The capsule collection features 10 couture garments inspired by Dunn’s love of flowers and some of the unique meanings behind nature’s most beautiful blooms. Every piece was designed with specific wearers in mind.
"These pieces were designed with models in mind that I’ve known for a very long time,” said Dunn. “Their essence and how they would carry the garment played a huge part.”
One of Dunn’s favorite pieces from the collection is the Expanse dress, a voluminous showstopper made from silk faille, with a silk shantung sash and an oversized peony.
"I knew I wanted to make a dress that would make a statement about taking up space.
People with certain marginalizations or intersections of their identities are often told by society that they should not take up space. That they should be smaller, and should make themselves more pliable and easy for other people to accept,” said Dunn. “I wanted people to see this dress and know they deserve to be here in a bright red ball gown with a huge sash that they have to carry around and everyone has to walk around them and deal with it,” she quipped.
Another favorite of Dunn’s is a silk charmeuse dress inspired by her and her sisters’ birth flowers. The Sisters gown is supported and suspended by organic, hand-drawn, machine embroidery of sweet peas, cosmos, lily of the valley, and gladiolus flowers. Like all the dresses in the collection, the gown is made with natural fibers from fabric that was just waiting to be appreciated.
"We have so much fabric already existing on this planet and it has got to be used up,” said Dunn. “Most of the fabric for this collection came from Chic Fabric, a family-owned small business that buys a lot of dead stock fabric. I’ve been shopping there for over a decade and I wanted to work with what they had.”
While the dresses in the collection weren’t necessarily designed to be sold, Dunn is excited by the idea of each dress finding a home in someone’s lived experience.
"Like Marc Jacobs once said, clothes mean nothing until someone lives in them. I do love the sentiment that putting the clothes on is what brings them to life,” said Dunn. “My original intent with this collection was to just make art, but the more I worked with these dresses the more I thought of all the ways they could be worn for different occasions.”
Each piece can be made to a customer’s specific measurements, said Dunn, and the colors, flowers, and length of the garment can all be reimagined to suit the wearer. That’s the true couture experience that has always been in SmartGlamour’s DNA and has long inspired Dunn to create designs for all.
“Everyone should be able to participate in self-expression and showcase their creativity and confidence through fashion,” said Dunn. “Everyone deserves access to that.”
To view the full capsule collection, or to purchase or customize a SmartGlamour garment, visit smartglamour.com.
Keep up with Mallorie Dunn, her creative work, and her teachings on Instagram at @Smart_Glamour
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