Designer Spotlight: Kiya Tomlin

Kiya is the first designer we will be spotlighting here with a brief bio so you can get to know her before the show on October 25th.

A native of Morristown, New Jersey, Kiya Tomlin began sewing when she was 10. She asked her mother for a sewing machine and rapidly progressed from a pillow to a duck to women's apparel. After recently moving to Pittsburgh with her family, she still manages to find time to focus on fashion despite a busy schedule. The wife and mother of three somehow fits in about six hours of designing in an average weekday. She sews from 6 to 8 a.m., resumes from 1 to 3 p.m. while their two sons are in school and their toddler daughter is napping, and then picks up again from 9 to 11 p.m. when the kids are in bed in their Shadyside home.
Her favorite styles to design are women's formal wear and she caters to many private clients as well as making gowns for herself.  One of her clients, singer Brynn Williams, wore one of Kiya's gowns in the 2005 Broadway production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

This is the first year that Kiya will be designing for the Madcap Masquerade.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette