Lindsay France/University Photography

Katrina James '96, left, shows off the dress that Matilda Ceesay '13, center, designed for her on stage at the Oct. 26 "Cornell Now" dinner banquet held at Barton Hall as part of Trustee-Council weekend. President David Skorton is at right.

Katrina James '96, chair of the Cornell University Council, was so impressed with one student's dress design that she asked her to make one for her to wear to the Barton Hall "Cornell Now" banquet Oct. 26 that celebrated the university's public engagement work.

James met Matilda Ceesay '13, a fiber science and apparel design major in the College of Human Ecology, at an alumni association/student dinner last spring; Ceesay came to the dinner wearing a multicolor cotton dress with woven bodice from her junior-year collection that was about to be shown at the Cornell Fashion Collective's annual fashion show.

"I said, 'Do you think you could design something for TCAM?'" James said, referring to the upcoming fall Trustee-Council Annual Meeting weekend. "I thought, why not spotlight some of the fabulous work our students do to all these great alumni?"

The two met again during Homecoming Weekend for an initial fitting of what would be an all-red variation of the dress; James purchased the fabric and Ceesay selected different shades of red chiffon and did all the cutting and hand weaving.

Ceesay said the original design was based on pre-Colonial West African dresses made of woven strips of cloth that were then hand sewn together into larger pieces that were then wrapped around the body. She wanted to create a garment that used strips to adorn the body.

"I cut bias strips and wove them to create the bodice of the dress," Ceesay said. "The inspiration for the dress was historical, but I didn't want it to be dated, so I thought this asymmetrical hem that played with the high-low trend in fashion would complement the intricately woven bodice of the dress."

"I'm getting nothing but raves," said James, who is paying Ceesay for the dress. "It's amazing that we have students here who can do work of this quality."

The two were called up on stage during the dinner program by Cornell President Skorton as an example of stunning student work.

"I'm thoroughly impressed by Matilda," James said. "I'm sure she's going to be a superstar one day, and I'm glad that I've been able to display some of her early work."