Meet Matilde Caceres: Fashion Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matilde Caceres and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matilde, how does your business help the community?
Fashion Sustainability is a huge topic that has been a buzz in the Fashion Industry, After I watched, a Netflix documentary, “The True Cost”, on how fast fashion is creating waste in third world countries, I decided to make a plan to prevent fabric waste. I take fabric scraps left from custom projects and recreate them into a new textile for a one of a kind garment. I make designs on face masks with the odds and end shaped fabric scraps and all kinds of other fabric fashion projects and sell them on my “Limited Sustainable Fashion” tab on my website. Those always sell out super fast. I also take an initiative to let my custom design clients know to buy just the exact fabric needed, creating less waste and encourage them to look in their current closets for items they have not worn that maybe we can recreate into something else that can be worn or used adding more lifetime to fabric instead of it ending in a waste land pile.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My biggest passion in the world is making women feel extraordinaire while wearing a piece I produced. I have seen timid young ladies and even mature women become exuberantly confident once they wear my fashion. It is an incredible experience to watch. It makes me want to pinch myself to see if I am still living my childhood dream of dressing dolls. I absolutely love it. I usually produce one of a kind custom garments as again, it’s my way of not having inventory just sitting there as a I am a minimalist and it creates less fabric waste. That is what sets me apart. My website, does have inventory that is shipped to my customer directly from vendors that I work with when the order is placed. I am not into fast fashion, but, I understand people want affordable so this is the way I offer it only through my website. When customers want custom pieces, we set up an appointment, draw up the designs and go from there all from my private studio based in Houston, Texas. It is challenging as people are always asking me if I have a location and my answer is no. I keep it this way as I do enjoy setting my own schedule and as I believe the future of retail is heading in the direction of e-commerce anyway. Some of the lessons I have learned along the way, is staying true to yourself is extremely important in order to stay happy. My brand is about being fashionably responsible, recycle and upcycling and not producing over the top quantities. I enjoy limited editions as I always want to move to the next design idea without being stuck pushing over stock of merchandise.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Some of my favorite places in the city are around my zip code around the Galleria. Hence, why I moved there. I would travel out of my zip code to the Museum District and check out the Museum of Fine Arts as I absolutely love art and anything creative. For breakfast, I would suggest La Argentina Gelato & Coffee 6363 San Felipe St. Suite 200, Houston, TX 77057. Lunch is fabulous, down the street at Le Madelaine, and dinner there are some really great places in the Galleria area. Too many places to mention. Night life is awesome in midtown or Toulouse by the River Oaks is always a place to meet exciting people.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My interest and support in Fashion Design began at my tender age of eight years old. My auntie and mom sewed beautifully and I took an interest in it. Both of them were always teaching me new techniques growing up. When I moved to Houston, I knew that I needed to build my skills even further, so I enrolled in the Art Institute of Houston in their Fashion Design program. The professors there are absolutely marvelous and push you out of your comfort zone to get the best out of you. I applaud them for that. It was like learning on steroids. However, the best experience is just experimenting and practice, practice, practice to master your craft. Some of the books that I have read, that have kept me encouraged throughout my personal and professional journey is “Girl Boss” by Sofia Amoruso, “The Woman I Wanted to Be” by Diane Von Furstenberg, “Everything is figureoutable” by Marie Forleo and “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey. Those are among my favorites as I read all the time and keep a journal on all the books I read. I reference back to my notes probably too much, but I realize it is probably good that I do that. It keeps me in check.

Website: https://miczedesignstudio.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matildahtown/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matildahtown/
Youtube: Matildahtown Micze Design Studio

Image Credits
no photographers here. All photos taken by me. I didn’t have enough time to hire a photographer this time around. Hopefully, some of these images are good for article. thank you.