A local designer is taking a step back to focus on her passion: designing.
Cold Lake business owner Cassandra Newton made the decision to close the Funky Butt’n to concentrate on expanding her label called EME Couture.
Although it was a tough call to say goodbye to the Funky Butt’n, Newton came to the conclusion that closing her store after nine year in business was the best choice for her to put all her efforts into her clothing line.
“It’s very difficult to be creative and do your art when you have all this stress and other things going on, and owning a business isn’t an easy thing to do. Focusing on being creative and owning a business was becoming impossible, and I had to step back from a lot of my design work… I couldn’t come up with anything because my brain was elsewhere,” she detailed.
Newton felt it was time to focus on her passion, and explore where that could take her.
Although it took her some time, Newton was able to create enough pieces in her Shattered Beauty collection to show at the Western Canada Fashion Week in Edmonton in September. She wanted to participate as she hadn’t been featured in a show since she attended New York Fashion Week last year.
“It was a last-minute decision. I didn’t think I was going to go, and then my mom convinced me to,” she recalled. “She said, ‘just go, show your face, show what you’ve been working on, and then blow them away in the new year.’”
Once the Funky Butt’n officially closes on Oct. 31, Newton will be stitching together another six pieces for her Shattered Beauty line. With her goal of a dozen designs, it will be the local designer’s biggest most labour-intensive collection.
Newton took inspiration from the Japanese style of Kintsugi, a design of pottery that mends broken objects using gold.
“The idea behind it is something that has been broken can be put back together, and its scars or marks from being broken are what makes it beautiful,” she said. “The idea that any person, no matter who they are, whatever scars they carry, if it’s mental, physical, or emotional scars, that’s what makes them who they are and that’s what makes them beautiful.”
With this in mind, Newton has been hard at work bringing her pieces to life.
"A lot of them are a lot of different fabrics put together, almost like a puzzle, and then every seam line has beads on it to make it look like that's what's holding it together. There's a lot of sparkle and beauty. The idea is that when people see this, they'll see that inspiration come across, and see it as something that anybody can wear no matter what their size," she expressed.
Newton is aiming to open another storefront in Cold Lake, but plans to make it different than her current business.
"There's plans to have something in the future, but it's not going to be like the Funky Butt'n. I won't do alterations or things like that. I want to eventually have a boutique store of my own where I can create and sell in the same space. But, no more regular day-to-day hemmings, zipper (repairs), and that kind of thing. That's what helped me get to where I am now, and I loved that work... But, I'm ready for a change and, once I get my brand built up and going, the hope is I won't have to go back to alterations later."
She offered her thanks to everyone who's walked through the doors since they opened.
"I just appreciate everyone in Cold Lake, Bonnyville, and the area that have been regulars and clients to the store in the past... nine years that it's been open. They're the reason that it stayed alive for as long as it has, and I really appreciate their business. I hope I can work with them in the future once EME Couture picks up, and we can do more custom work and get the people in Cold Lake looking good," she exclaimed.
