Fashion is a powerful tool for communication and connection. Through fashion individuals can express their personalities. Fashion design is also a great social connector. Liv Mori is a fashion designer who uses her work to create an online space where she can connect with others and share her designs and create community among her followers. Mori credits a highschool art teacher as being influential in her art journey.
“I had an art class in high school where we had to do a mixed media project at the end of term, and I decided I was going to make a mermaid dress because I had already done a mermaid painting, which was really ambitious, considering I’ve never made anything at that point, let alone a dress.”
The dress Mori made was self-described as “horrid”. The fabric kept falling apart, she had to douse the whole thing in fray block but it was the start of her journey into design, and a great lesson in how when designing, things go wrong and you have to adapt. Her current designs are anything but horrid. Combining unique materials with ruffles and frills, she focuses on cottage-core styling and corsetry.
“The construction of a garment underneath what everyone else sees on the outside is very important to the overall silhouette. It’s really important to have the proper undergarments, especially if you’re doing something historical, because it tells the time and place visually. They’re so structured. They don’t have to be, but they can be. And I love seeing something that keeps its shape on its own, off the body.”
She says that one day down the line she could see herself creating a ready to wear line but for now is enjoying exploring one of a kind pieces and custom work.
Mori is part of the large online community who love fantasy novels. She has designs named after characters from Sarah J. Maas books, and sketches based on The Cruel Prince. In 2025 Mori will be traveling to Spain to be the Wardrobe Director on a film. While there’s not much she can say as the film is in pre-production she is excited to work with the team, who are big in the online fantasy community.
“Next year I will be shooting a fan film called The Better World, it’s inspired by the popular fantasy series Throne of Glass. We’re all creatives from different parts of North America and we’re all fans of this series. As Wardrobe Director I’m extremely excited to bring my favourite characters to life. The creative team has been developing a look that unifies all the characters, and it’s been a dream to work with them so far.”
Mori is proud of creating a safe online space for people to enjoy fashion. 97% of her audience is women. Her Instagram page is about her fashion, sewing tips and just enjoying those things together.
“I think that it’s a nice space for women to be themselves, and I think the hyper feminine fashion keeps men away from my page, and I love that because, truthfully, it’s not for them, and I don’t want them there and I don’t have any qualms about saying that, because it’s true. Non binary people, trans women, women, all women. Those are the kind of people that I want to see enjoying what I’m making.”
It took Mori time to feel comfortable dressing in her ultra feminine way. “I feel like part of growing up for me was being like, oh, it’s okay, actually, for me to like this stuff. I’m allowed now. So I’m going to just be that person that I wanted to be “
Sewing is an expensive hobby and often people find there are many barriers in place to keep them from taking part. Not everyone is taught to sew but it’s a critical skill that people need in order to mend things and help consume less fast fashion. Mori makes available free resources through her page and newsletter in order to help break some of those barriers.
“Not everyone has access to a sewing machine. If you do, it’s probably one that was in your parents basement or your neighbor’s basement, or, maybe you know one person who can teach you how to sew, but they’re probably very busy. The free resources that are online are often infinitely more helpful than the common knowledge of the one person you might know who can sew. A lot of the free resources I’m sharing are from other people that I trust, or maybe I’ve used their patterns before and it helped me in some way. I just want people to try.”
It’s not just about breaking barriers to entry, the resources can truly bring people joy and peace. By sharing educational content people can pick up a critical skill that can improve their quality of life. Mori is teaching people an important skill, by teaching someone to sew they can have the satisfaction of creating something that doesn’t exist on the market.
“There’s something very satisfying about spending 10 hours on a dress, and then it’s like, oh, my gosh. This is a dress I could have maybe never afforded or never found quite what I was looking for.”
https://www.instagram.com/livmori.atelier/
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