Camelot Kids' Collection: It's a Tropical "Camelot" for Designer Karina Travato After 12 years of working in the fashion industry, designer Karina Travato had had enough. Designing for the garment industry, especially in New York City, is tough and competitive and can exhaust even the most die-hard fashion follower.
Native New Yorkers, Karina and husband Marcello Travato, decided to make a change. As Travato tells it, she and Marcello "ran away to Miami in search of a more romantic life and career." It wasn't an easy beginning. With a baby son and not enough work to support them, "we figured why not put our talent and experience to work," said Travato. The Travatos' joined forces and opened the Camelot Kids Collection "CKC" in 2000.
Travato, now a mother of two, has based her business in her Miami home, which she fondly refers to as "my lovely palace." Each season, she designs a 10-15-piece line of formal and semiformal clothing in sizes newborn through toddler. Wholesale prices range from $25-55 for infants 0-12 months and $35-75 for toddlers up to size seven. One of a kind pieces and special orders wholesale for approximately $100.
Hilda Travato, Karina's mother, (a designer and seamstress who made many of Karina and her sisters' dresses as children) is the inspiration for Travato's "tradition with a twist" style. Hilda used lavish textiles and specialty touches like hand-embroidery on her simply shaped dresses. Travato employs the same approach to her own dresses and boys' special occasion wear. Keeping the silhouettes simple allows her sophisticated color sense and eclectic use of textiles to take center stage. The pieces are formal, but not overblown or stiff looking.
Years of "better" design experience have resulted in a self-assured color sense. Travato's "princess ball dress," included in the spring 2002 line, mixes a beigey/pink raw silk top with a nubby beige linen skirt to great advantage. The neutral colors give the dress ($70 wholesale) a grown up sophistication, and the skirt, with its unusual linen shingles, (each shingle has a tiny metal dot) is cut slightly narrower than a traditional special occasion skirt. The narrower cut keeps a child from being overwhelmed. The dress looks "couture" but the playful fabrications keep it from appearing overly serious.
Trimming a white pique halter dress ($50 wholesale) with pink and white gingham gives it a lighthearted charm. The all-over pink floral embroidery is a signature CKC touch. Fine details--covered buttons and lining--take it out of the sundress realm and into boutique dresswear.
The perfect gift item for any children's boutique is Travato's white, side-buttoned top, with a hand-embroidered dog. The top is cut loose and closes with two tiny buttons on the side. The dog's imperfect stitching looks hand-done giving the piece vintage appeal. Think store window.
Earnshaw's Magazine noticed CKC at the January Children's Club and will be featuring dresses from the line in their upcoming holiday issue. Travato expects to be exhibiting at ENK in March. Remember, we spotted her first!
Pieces from the CKC line can be found on the East Coast in Kendall's Closet in New York City. On the West Coast check out Scouts in California, and in Miami her dresses can be found in Cinderella and Boy Meets Girl. Travato looks forward to expanding the line and is interested in hearing from reps selling to the boutique trade.
- Camelot Kids Collection
- 23550 SW 207th Avenue, Miami, Florida 33031
- Tel. 305-801-6840, e-mail camelotkids@hotmail.com
Tina Barry
has been involved in many facets of the fashion world. She
has traveled domestically and to Europe to research color
and design trends. For many years she styled textiles for
the apparel and home furnishing industries. After designing
her own line of children's wear she now freelances as a
children's wear buyer and private label designer. In the
Fall of 200l Tina will begin teaching a marketing course at
The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.