Who she is
Cathleen was born in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia were she lived until 4 before to leave for France, Provence, one area of France that inspired several of the most renowned painters such as Van Gogh, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse…
Her background
Cathleen’s passion for Arts started very early with drawing and painting, then dance and finally music at the Conservatory.
She for a long time hesitated between Music and Drawing but after her graduation in high school with a specialty in Art and History of Art, she passed the competition to enter the School of Beaux Arts of Montpelier but she eventually entered the “Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne”, one of the most prestigious Fashion Design school in the world and the only one for Haute Couture in Paris.
During her scholarship Cathleen won several Fashion Design awards such as the 3rd price of the NINA RICCI “Deci-Dela” contest (Paris, France, 1995); the 3rd price of the International contest “Stars of Fashion” (Liege, Belgium, 1994) and the 1st price of “Future Cities” PACA Province contest (Marseille, France, 1993). As the school’s last year top student she was also rewarded with the traditional last year graduation internship at DIOR’s Haute Couture Studio.
By entering DIOR at her graduation year, Cathleen started her carrier in the Haute Couture world. She worked for prestigious Haute Couture Houses, such as CHISTIAN DIOR, CHRISTIAN LACROIX, LOUIS FERRAUD, LORRIS AZZARO, KOJI TATSUNO. After some time there she decided to move forward and explore all sectors of the fashion & apparel industry, including ready-to-wear, mass market, women, kids, young fashion creators…
Cathleen created 2 cloth and accessory brands of her own in parallel to her activity: "Co.Kate" (Paris, France) and K by Kate (Shanghai, China) with the aim to create unique pieces.
Cathleen exceeds the etiquette of the simple fashion designer since her comprehension of design is large in its cultural diversity and deep in its technical aspects. As a designer she is product oriented and that is an important component of her professional background.
But beyond the professional that she is, Cathleen is a free creator who likes to explore and express anything meaningful to her eyes, using any medium in the vast array of her technics. Those 2 aspects – the product oriented professional and the free creator – interact and enrich one from the other.
What she is doing
With strong technical skills in Fashion Design, Drawing & Painting and with a large artistic culture in Cinema, Music, Dance and Design Cathleen positions herself in the transversality and is able to work in various collaborations situations and with various medias of expression.
After living in France, West Indies - Guadeloupe, China - Shanghai, she is now coming back to her Birth Land, Australia where she currently lives in Melbourne with her Husband and their Cat Cajou.
This website aims to provide a whole picture of her talent.
Shanghai, October 2014.
Cathleen was born in 1974 in Melbourne, Australia were she lived until 4 before to leave for France, Provence, one area of France that inspired several of the most renowned painters such as Van Gogh, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse…
Her background
Cathleen’s passion for Arts started very early with drawing and painting, then dance and finally music at the Conservatory.
She for a long time hesitated between Music and Drawing but after her graduation in high school with a specialty in Art and History of Art, she passed the competition to enter the School of Beaux Arts of Montpelier but she eventually entered the “Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne”, one of the most prestigious Fashion Design school in the world and the only one for Haute Couture in Paris.
During her scholarship Cathleen won several Fashion Design awards such as the 3rd price of the NINA RICCI “Deci-Dela” contest (Paris, France, 1995); the 3rd price of the International contest “Stars of Fashion” (Liege, Belgium, 1994) and the 1st price of “Future Cities” PACA Province contest (Marseille, France, 1993). As the school’s last year top student she was also rewarded with the traditional last year graduation internship at DIOR’s Haute Couture Studio.
By entering DIOR at her graduation year, Cathleen started her carrier in the Haute Couture world. She worked for prestigious Haute Couture Houses, such as CHISTIAN DIOR, CHRISTIAN LACROIX, LOUIS FERRAUD, LORRIS AZZARO, KOJI TATSUNO. After some time there she decided to move forward and explore all sectors of the fashion & apparel industry, including ready-to-wear, mass market, women, kids, young fashion creators…
Cathleen created 2 cloth and accessory brands of her own in parallel to her activity: "Co.Kate" (Paris, France) and K by Kate (Shanghai, China) with the aim to create unique pieces.
Cathleen exceeds the etiquette of the simple fashion designer since her comprehension of design is large in its cultural diversity and deep in its technical aspects. As a designer she is product oriented and that is an important component of her professional background.
But beyond the professional that she is, Cathleen is a free creator who likes to explore and express anything meaningful to her eyes, using any medium in the vast array of her technics. Those 2 aspects – the product oriented professional and the free creator – interact and enrich one from the other.
What she is doing
With strong technical skills in Fashion Design, Drawing & Painting and with a large artistic culture in Cinema, Music, Dance and Design Cathleen positions herself in the transversality and is able to work in various collaborations situations and with various medias of expression.
After living in France, West Indies - Guadeloupe, China - Shanghai, she is now coming back to her Birth Land, Australia where she currently lives in Melbourne with her Husband and their Cat Cajou.
This website aims to provide a whole picture of her talent.
Shanghai, October 2014.