Recyled Fashion for Fun People

Hello, my name is Christine. I was born and raised in the town of Goldbach, Germany. In 1988 I met my husband Tony, a GI at the time. We fell in love, got married and, in October 1993, I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Laryssa. In 1995 we took on the challenge of leaving our old and comfortable life for a new start overseas (well, overseas for me anyway.) The place we chose to start our adventure was South Padre Island, Texas. It wasn't always easy and we sure didn't have a lot of money, but who needs money when you have the beach in front of your door? Unfortunately, South Padre Island and the Rio Grande Valley don't have much to offer on cultural events. We needed to rejoin the "real world" and found Austin. We packed up and moved in Spring of 1999. We've lived here ever since and feel very comfortable in this unique and funky city... The perfect place for our little family!

Fashion and sewing has always been my passion. When I was little I used to sit next to my dad, a tailor by trade, and watch him create the most incredible clothing pieces. Even then I was fascinated with all the different fabrics, colors, threads, buttons etc.... Basically, I taught myself how to use the sewing machine. I think I was about 8 years old when I created my first project - a dress for my Barbie doll. I just learned as I went along and, by the age of 13, I was already sewing pants, blouses and jackets. Although he did not always agree with my way of tailoring, my dad was very proud of me and liked my designs. Since then I've moved on to designing and making clothes for myself.

Now, that I'm all grown-up - yah, right! - I'm experimenting with fun fabrics and old denim. Changing old into new is my latest fascination. I have the best time rummaging through thrift stores, rescuing old blue jeans to give them back an exciting new look. In the last 5 years I've created some unique and fun clothing pieces and accessories, which have been selling well at local clothing boutiques. I came up with my own label "CA" (embroidered on all my creations) and started Chrisi A. Designs. On my trip to Germany last summer, I brought along some of my skirt designs. All my friends loved them and just had to have one. When all the skirts were gone, I even ended up selling my own personal skirt! (don't worry, I had other clothes...) The response from everybody was just incredible and the request was huge.

That's when I came up with the idea to build a website to give everybody the opportunity to discover - and of course wear! - my funky fashion designs.

I'm so grateful that I'm able to stay at home, take care of my family, be there for my daughter whenever she needs me, and assist her with her homework. But best of all, I get to live out my dream.

At this point I want to thank my 2 prime supporters - my awesome husband Tony and my sweet daughter Laryssa, known to be my fashion model. THANK YOU! I couldn't have done it without your encouragement!!

Another very important person in my live is Dainty Lewis. She is an incredible women and artist, and owner of 2 awesome stores, ISLA and RICA, on beautiful South Padre Island, Texas. Dainty is my big inspiration – THANKS for believing in me!

BARE YOUR INDIVIDUALITY!
Wear Chrisi A. Designs!