“If you have a great vision inside you and are meant to be a Coco Chanel, you can screw it up by being afraid of it,” says Pamela Ptak. “You just have to not be afraid.”
The Intelligencer, Tuesday, January 12, 2010, Naila Francis, staff writer “Fashion Forward”
As a contestant on the new season of “Project Runway,” Bucks County’s Pamela Ptak aims to show that ready-to-wear apparel can be smart, interesting and uniquely apart from the norm.
It first happened in downtown Manhattan, in a youthful designer store where Pamela Ptak had popped in, sporting one of her own shirts.
An employee, immediately enamored with the piece, promptly ushered her over to the manager to gush over Ptak’s handiwork before parading her around the store, extolling the shirt’s virtues to just about anyone in earshot.
Bemused by all the fuss, Ptak recalls thinking, “Why are you reacting with, ‘Oh, my god’?”
Later that same day, she was walking down the street when a “hip-hop dude” stopped her to tell her how great her shirt was.
Unsure whether his comment was intended to be flirtatious or genuinely appreciative, Ptak didn’t know how to respond.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, this is getting really weird,’ but it turns out he wanted to know where he could get one for his girlfriend,’ she says.
It was then, says the Riegelsville fashion designer, that it began to sink in.
As one of the contestants looking to raise her career profile on Season 7 of “Project Runway,” beginning Thursday on Lifetime, Ptak received some early encouragement from fashion consultant Tim Gunn while auditioning for the hit reality show.
In a video clip on Lifetime’s Web site, the fashion guru, who serves as a mentor to the series’ contestants, tells Ptak that she’s on the cusp of something big, noting her clothes are among some of the most beautifully constructed that he’s ever seen.
“That literally was, like, such a huge, huge gift. You don’t necessarily get a chance to be with any of these people privately, but if I could, I would go and shake his hand and look in his eyes and say, ‘Thank you, that was such a kind thing,’” says Ptak.
But it wasn’t until that day in New York that she grasped what Gunn was getting at.
“The way these people were reacting – that was the kind of stuff Tim was reacting to and I thought, ‘This is bigger than I imagined,’” says Ptak, who moved to Riegelsville in 1994 with husband Scott Hanna, a renowned comic book illustrator.
For some, simply making it onto “Project Runway,” would be a sizeable accomplishment. Ptak herself was one of 16 selected from a field of thousands for a shot to compete with other designers in a series of challenges, with their creations then judged by a panel including host and supermodel Heidi Klum, fashion director for Marie Claire magazine Nina Garcia and designer Michael Kors. The winner receives a cash prize of $100,000 from L’Oreal Paris to launch their own fashion line; a $50,000 technology suite from HP and Intel to create, design and run their business; the opportunity to sell their line on the designer discount site Bluefly.com; and an editorial feature in Marie Claire.
But whether she’s victorious or not, Ptak, emboldened just by the process of being on the show, already has her sights set high.
She auditioned for “Project Runway” twice previously – for seasons five and six – before being cast this season and says even those auditions proved invaluable. The Massachusetts native and New York City transplant has been designing her own fashions since 2001, when she launched a custom couture line for private clients. While she has concentrated more of her energy in recent years in establishing a ready-to-wear line of separates and dresses, she still hoped to offer a high-end line.
A graduate of Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, she had also studied couture methods at the French-founded Maison Sapho School of Dressmaking and Design in New York City, and, as a freelancer did sewing and hand embellishing for luxury fashion house Chado Ralph Rucci. But while being interviewed for season five of “Project Runway,” envisioning the upscale dresses she would design for her couture label, she was advised to focus on her ready-to-wear pieces.
“The number of hours that it took to make a dress and the price per yard – I had this lace on the dress I showed that was $230 a yard wholesale and then it had about 150 hours of hand work – the interviewers in a second could see that unless I could dig up people to spend $20,000 to $30,000 on a dress, that wasn’t the most viable option.
My goal changed then, and it was all due to that interview. The regular ladies in the world who can’t afford the $20,000 dress still deserve fine work. I thought, ‘Can’t we raise the standards in ready-to-wear?’ It would have taken me years to figure that out.”
Ptak’s style is definitely distinctive, many of her designs woven from an architectural aesthetic that invites the play of shadow and light on unusual shapes that are often sensual yet discreetly feminine. Surprising cutouts, fabrics folded with sculptural whimsy against the body, unexpected colors, soft fluttering pieces worked into seams to accentuate the lines of the wearer – she creates with an eye toward the intellectually provocative. Her inspiration stems from old books, items found in nature, and animal anatomy and bone structure. The arc of antlers, the hinges on a bug’s leg as it arches away from its body, sea shells and corals – she finds an element of beauty in all of them.
My style – what I wear when I wear other designers – it usually has a bit of the avant garde but not avant garde for the sake of being bizarre,” says Ptak, who is also working on incorporating her husband’s art work into her fabrics. “I love when you’re at a party and people want to stand to the back of you and then the front and side to figure out how something works. I think (clothing) has to be intellectual … to the degree that it makes people think.
Ptak has always been enamored of fashion. Her mom, who only five years ago confesses to her that she’d wanted to be a fashion designer herself, always sewed and would take Ptak and her two sisters with her when she went shopping for fabric and other material. In stores, she allowed her daughters to touch the fabrics, explaining patterns sharing miscellaneous design tidbits with them, making shopping for clothes a tactile experience and an art form.
By age 5, Ptak was sketching designs and making clothes for her dolls. By the fourth grade, she’d made herself a jumper skirt with ruffles.
But despite encouragement from teachers throughout high school to pursue her love of fashion, a department head at the community college she attended steered her in the direction of painting and drawing, believing Ptak would establish a foundation from which she could then explore any medium. She interpreted his suggestion to mean that fashion wasn’t a valid choice, and stopped sewing, pursuing a more practical career in advertising instead.
After graduating from Pratt, she worked for several years as an art director for some of the world’s most prestigious advertising companies, overseeing campaigns for products such as Noxzema skin cream and CoverGirl cosmetics. She returned to her fashion design dreams at 30, encouraged by Creative Director Dick Huebner. Along the way, she also began teaching at Drexel University and the Baum School of Art in Allentown.
Though she was a fan of “Project Runway” from its inception, it was actually her students who encouraged her to audition. According to Ptak, the series has been a boon to fashion design schools, where attendance has raised significantly since it’s premiere in 2004.
“When I heard that it was going to come out, I thought it was fabulous because there really wasn’t anything that showed the behind-the-scenes,” she says. “And as I was teaching, I realized this would be a vehicle to inspire the students and also to help the parents understand that you could make a living doing this. With ‘Project Runway,’ there’s the idea that independent designers have a chance.”
While the invasiveness of reality TV may be daunting to some, Ptak has never much been bothered by others’ opinions about her, and as a Baha’i, she says she holds herself to the already high standards of her faith, leaving little room for anything that would paint her in a dubious light.
“If I did something like scratch myself inappropriately, that’s kind of a bummer that people would see that, but there’s really nothing in my life that I have shame about,” she says, nonetheless acknowledging that footage can be edited to change the tenor of certain situations. “You have to just be truthful to yourself. Don’t try to play an act.
“Be who you are,” she says, “and you’ll be accurately portrayed.”
Sidebar: Pamela Ptak’s Fashion File
Favorite Designer: God
Favorite Fashion Designers: Charles James, Balenciaga, Junya Watanabe and Issey Miyake
Wardrobe favorites: anything by Ann Demeulemeester, an Yves saint Laurent jacket with boning in the waist, a pair of Alexander McQueen pants with “crazy zippers”
Design influences: modern architectural shapes, huge metal sculptures, and the works of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi and American abstract artist Louise Nevelson
Favorite material to work with: anything stiff and crisp with architectural possibilities, or extremely delicate and sheer
Fashion faux pas: feather boas
Style icon: Iman -www.mylifetime.com
The Philadelphia Enquirer, January 13, 2010, by Elizabeth Wellington - Fashion Columnist Mirror, Mirror: Drexel professor to debut on 'Project Runway'
You won't see much of Pamela Ptak tomorrow night on the first episode of Lifetime's Project Runway.
In the fashion reality show's seventh season opener, all the Drexel University fashion professor gets to do is tell us that she's a small-business owner and type A personality. And during the competition we see Ptak's beautifully constructed backless cocktail dress on the runway.
But the wide-eyed, auburn-headed clothier, who says her favorite designer is God, promises she'll play a more significant role among the 16 well-established yet opinionated designers.
"No, I do talk more," Ptak said, laughing, as she spoke on the phone from her sprawling home in Riegelsville, Bucks County. "I get louder. It does happen."
After checking out Ptak's womenswear collection online ( www.pamelaptak.com ), that's not hard to believe. Not only is she a Chatty Cathy, Ptak is also extremely talented. Her dresses have amazing movement; the angular details combined with a nude and pastel color palette make for a grand presentation.
During Ptak's audition, Runway design mentor Tim Gunn said her garments were the most beautifully constructed ones he had ever seen.
"I think you are on the cusp of something big," he told her in this season's casting session, which you can watch on Lifetime's Web site. After a somewhat dismal first season on the women's network, Runway's second attempt, which brings the designers back to the Big Apple, seems to feature engaging designers who clearly are much more interesting to watch.
But there's no telling how Ptak will fare in the end. She says she's "dying" to tell how far she makes it, but her lips are sealed.
Ptak, 47, started in advertising at CoverGirl in the 1990s, and it was there that she designed garments for photo shoots. That was until her boss, well-known creative director Dick Huebner, persuaded her to design full time.
Ptak took classes at the Maison Sapho School of Dressmaking & Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. In 2001 she started a couture line, and last year she introduced a ready-to-wear collection. Her resumé includes time spent with Philadelphia-bred designer Ralph Rucci as he prepared the couture shows in Paris.
Pretty cool.
I talked to Ptak about her aesthetic vision and what she likes about Halle Berry and Harry Potter.
Question: What made you want to compete on Project Runway?
Answer: My students kept bugging me to do it. They kept telling me, "Oh my God! You'd totally win. You should try." And I kept saying, "OK, OK, do your work."
Q: Your bio on the Lifetime Web site said you were inspired by both Halle Berry and Harry Potter. Tell me about that.
A: Halle Berry inspires me because of her incredible level of intellect. She's a smart and wise businesswoman who makes good choices. She's balanced and she has a perfect body. She also appears to have a balanced spirit. She's like the perfect symbol of woman. . . . Harry Potter is not so much about inspiration. I like to listen to the books on tape and movies while I work. We work long days and having them play in the background is like having people around. . . . I delight in the fancifulness of the stories.
Q: What are some similarities between working in advertising and fashion?
A: In advertising, I learned the study of brand management, selecting and sticking to your brand's image. When you develop a brand image, you have to know who the heck you are and who it is marketed to. Once you figure that out, it's important not to veer from it. At all.
Q: So tell me about your brand.
A: The woman who wears my clothes is strong, but she's not afraid to be in a lot of different situations. She can be just as comfortable on the red carpet as she is at a street fair. She has an athletic sense about her, but she's not about the power workout. More yoga. She's stripped away all of the meaningless excess in her life.
Q: Sounds like I like this woman. How does this image translate into your design aesthetic?
A: I design pieces for women who feel comfortable in my unusual interpretation of flattering design. There are lots of open backs on my dresses. I have pieces where the arms arch backward, so the woman has to be graceful enough to arch forward to add to the way I designed the fabric to drape. This creates shadow and light and enhances the movability of the fabric. I also think details in construction are important. It's hard to see it, but my dress on the runway [tomorrow] is completely reversible. There are double zippers and seams in it.
Q: How did working with Ralph Rucci influence you?
A: He has influenced me to really refine my level of design. He's absolutely genius. . . . It's also why I work so quietly. His workroom is silent. That silence helps with the meditative quality of work and it also helps with speed.
Q: Has Project Runway changed your life?
A: It puts a spotlight on my viewpoint. It also shows off my thought process. I do things more through draping and sketching, much like Donna Karan. Her shapes were rounded; mine are sharp and angular. Project Runway really gave me a platform that is brilliant.
Contact fashion writer Elizabeth Wellington at 215-854-2704 or ewellington@phillynews.com.
Pamela Ptak is one of the contestants on Project Runway. (Morning Call File Photo)
THE MORNING CALL, January 14, 2010, By Kathy Lauer-Williams Designer Pamela Ptak, a fashion teacher at Allentown's Baum School of Art, to strut her stuff on 'Project Runway'
Pamela Ptak is still glowing from the praise of fashion guru Tim Gunn.
Gunn, during a casting session for the Lifetime TV show ' 'Project Runway,'' called her clothing ''among the most beautifully constructed clothes I've ever seen.''
''It was amazing,'' said the fashion teacher at Allentown's Baum School of Art. ''My skill was at the level he was describing. But I thought, 'Oh my God, you said it on the record.'''
Ptak, who lives outside Riegelsville in Durham Township, was chosen for the popular reality show and tonight begins her quest to win $100,000 and a spread in a fashion magazine. She will compete against 15 other designers on the show. The seventh season starts at 10 p.m.
Ptak tried unsuccessfully two previous years to get on ''Project Runway.'' She was picked from thousands of designers for this year's show, hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and featuring fashion consultant Gunn.
Gunn, whose ''Make it work!'' has become a catchphrase for the show, was just as nice as he seems on the show, Ptak said.
''Tim's like the special uncle who's nice to everyone, but even more so,'' she said. ''He really is that intellectual and charming. He's a pretty darn cool guy.''
At 47, Ptak is this season's oldest contestant. Half of this season's 16 contestants are in their 20s.
It is the second time a designer from the Lehigh Valley has been featured on the show. Bethlehem designer Marla Duran was a contestant in the second season in 2006 and was the sixth to be eliminated. Ptak and Duran have become friends, and will watch tonight's episode together.
Born in Pittsfield, Mass., Ptak studied at Pratt Institute in New York and worked as an art director for advertising agencies before returning to fashion. She started her own line of clothing in 2001.
Ptak, whose name is pronounced using all the letters, designs women's separates and dresses for her ready-to-wear line ''Pamela Ptak,'' and custom couture dresses and gowns under the label ''Ptak Couture.''
She teaches fashion design courses at Drexel University in Philadelphia and has been teaching at Baum for five years.
Ptak promises the audiences will hear her trademark exclamation phrase ''Holy Moley,'' which she picked up from watching ' 'Batman'' as a child and hanging around with her husband, Scott Hanna, a comic book artist.
Hanna is thrilled that his wife has found her calling.
''I'm so excited and proud of her,'' he said. ''I've seen her transform over the years and her quality keeps getting better. It's so cool that everything's coming together and this will show off to the world the talent I've always known she has.''
Ptak describes her fashions as clothes that make a woman comfortable as well as beautiful. Her designs are architectural with clean lines and geometric shapes. She thinks of clothing as wearable sculpture.
''My designs are intellectual,'' she said. ''They are a little surprising, showcasing parts of the anatomy with cutouts and the suggestion of movement.''
Rose Ackerman, Baum School director of development, owns clothes made by Ptak.
''They are sewn beautifully inside and outside,'' Ackerman said. ''She certainly has a passion for fashion. I think her designs are good enough to win -- but you never know what the judges are looking for.''
Ptak auditioned for the show's fifth season at the urging of her fashion students and interns.
''To be a really great teacher, you don't just say things, you have to do them,'' she said. ''I always do things I believe in.''
For her first audition in 2007, Ptak took a lot of her couture designs, thinking that was the future direction of her business. But instead the judges preferred her skirts and knitwear.
She nearly made it on the show the following year for Season 6 and got to meet Gunn.
She was confident when she auditioned for the seventh season last spring.
''I was thoroughly convinced I'd made it,'' she said. Nevertheless, she screamed with joy when she got the call telling her she was on the show.
Ptak, who signed a confidentiality agreement with Lifetime, can't reveal many details about her time on ''Project Runway'' until after the shows air.
''I was surprised at the incredible strengths of some people,'' she said. ''They were very diverse. I liked them all.''
She studied the previous seasons' DVDs before the competition, trying to ''inventively guess'' what kind of challenges she might face. Competitors have had to create clothing using only plants and flowers, and to design a costume for a female wrestler. ''It makes your brain start thinking differently,'' she said.
Ptak is excited about seeing how the show portrays her.
''Cameras were always around and you started forgetting they were there,'' she said. ''Who knows what they caught on camera -- hopefully nothing too outrageous. There's a bit of 'I Love Lucy' in me. But you have to not care if the world sees your quirky, interesting self.''
Former ''Project Runway'' contestant Duran chatted over the Internet with Ptak, and the two designers decided to get together to watch the show.
''It's like being a member of a club,'' Duran said. ''You don't know what it's like until you've been there.''
Duran said the show benefited her business, which she runs out of a boutique in south Bethlehem.
''Women around the country wear my clothes,'' Duran said. ''People recognize me when I travel and ask me about it all the time.''
Duran said it's ''completely fun to have someone else from the area on the show. It says something for what's going on in the Lehigh Valley.''
Ptak agrees.
''The Lehigh Valley could be a fashion center again, like it was in the heyday of Hess's [department store],'' she said.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Thurs., Dec. 17, 2009, Michael Klein INQlings Designer heads for ‘Runway’
Drexel fashion instructor Pamela Ptak will be among the designers under the microscope on next season’s Project Runway, which premieres on Lifetime at 10 p.m. Jan. 14. Ptak – you pronounce the first letter of her name – credits God as her favorite designer and gets high praise from the persnickety Tim Gunn: “These are among the most beautifully constructed clothes I’ve ever seen.” She was selected on her third tryout. “I very much loved the process of interviewing,” says Ptak, 47, a Massachusetts native and New York transplant who lives with her husband, illustrator Scott Hanna, in Riegelsville, Bucks County. “They gave me amazing insight. I would keep trying out and sharpening my brain. You can’t pay anyone for the knowledge you get from trying out. It was like grad school for me.” Ptak, who teaches the couture graduate class for corseted evening wear at Drexel, as well as at Baum School of Art in Allentown, is a career-changer, having started as an art director on campaigns for such products as CoverGirl cosmetics and Noxzema skin cream. Legendary creative director Dick Huebner encouraged her to try fashion at age 30. Her resume also includes studies at Maison Sapho School of Dressmaking & Design and design time with Chado Ralph Rucci.
The Morning Call, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009 by Kathy Lauer-Williams Baum School instructor to be on 7th season of "Project Runway"
A couture teacher at the Baum School of Art in Allentown will be the latest fashion designer “making it work” on Lifetime’s “Project Runway,” which airs next month.
Pamela Ptak, of Durham Township, Bucks County, who has her own couture and ready to wear lines, has been chosen as one of 16 designers to compete on the fashion reality show that will premiere its 7th season at 10 p.m. Jan. 14.
Ptak, who teaches pattern making, fashion design concepts and illustration, and fashion draping at Baum, was picked from thousands of designers for the Emmy-nominated show hosted by supermodel Heidi Klum and featuring fashion consultant Tim Gunn.
Ptak says she was “very excited” about the opportunity to be on the popular show, on which another local designer, Bethlehem’s Marla Duran, competed during the second season in 2006.
In a video on-line of Ptak’s casting session with Gunn, the fashion guru told Ptak her clothing are “among the most beautifully constructed clothes I’ve ever seen.” An overwhelmed Ptak replied “hearing that from you is like getting a kiss from God.”
Gunn also praised the contrast between Ptak’s “architectural” designs and “softer, more flowing” pieces and said she was “on the cusp of something big.”
Her designs were features in an art exhibit called “Line, Texture, Fold,” in July at BaumSchool of Art.
A graduate of Pratt Institute, Ptak worked as an art director for advertising agencies before starting her own line of clothing in 2001. She designs women’s ladies separates and dresses for her ready-to-wear fashion line “Pamela Ptak,” and custom couture dresses and gowns under the label “Ptak Couture.” She also teaches fashion design courses at Drexel University, Philadelphia.
In an online interview, Ptak said she auditioned for the show because “my fashion interns and design students kept bugging me to do it.”
The designer said she draws inspiration from family treasures, old books and natural items such as butterfly wings in a Lifetime video shot at her rural home in Bucks County on the network’s web site at www.mylifetime.com.
Check out PR's home visit (More videos here): (link disabled) To view all videos & images go to www.mylifetime.com and click on the Project Runway season 7 links.
The Berkshire Eagle, December 26, 2009 by David Pepose, Berkshire Eagle Staff "Fashion Designer Pulls Right Strings"
PITTSFIELD - Ever since she was 5 years old, fashion designer Pamela Ptak has known how to make it work.
I used to draw tiny things of clothing on small pieces of paper," Ptak said. "Every outfit had a name. There was a wedding dress, I called it 'White as Snow'...by the time I was that old, I was already designing collections.
That artistic streak has taken her a long way -- after going from Pratt Institute to Paris to New York, the Pittsfield native is taking her craft to the catwalks of the next season of "Project Runway."
"I think ‘Project Runway' was very transformative for me," Ptak, 47, said. "If there were any training wheels left on me, I dumped them this year."
The Lifetime reality show, which is scheduled to begin its seventh season Jan. 14, pits 16 fashion designers against one another to come up with the most striking and elegant outfits throughout a series of design challenges.
"Project Runway" has been graced by a number of fashion luminaries, including supermodel host Heidi Klum and Liz Claiborne's chief creative officer Tim Gunn. Last year's winner, Irina Shabayeva, of New York, won a feature in Marie Claire Magazine, as well as $100,000 to start her own clothing line.
Having grown up in Pittsfield from the age of 4 until completing a two-year art program at Berkshire Community College, Ptak said her teachers -- particularly at Pittsfield High School -- were instrumental in her pursuing a career in fashion. "[One teacher] saw how much I was trying to do fashion, designing my own patterns, trying to create computer programs to help my designs ... she said, ‘you have to be an artist, you're dying to do this art -- don't give it up,' " Ptak recalled. "The most profound thing she said was, ‘you might not make a living, but you'll make a life.' "
Ptak, who now lives in Durham, Pa., said that she had long been interested in auditioning for the show, but did not want to break her commitments with Chado Ralph Rucci, with whom she worked for three years.
But despite her work abroad, Ptak's students at the Baum School of Art and at Drexel University -- who would dissect Project Runway episodes at length in the classroom -- wouldn't let the idea out of her head. "My students kept bugging me, you should go on project runway, you would totally win!" Ptak said. "I smiled, told them to do their homework."
Ptak said that her fashion philosophies were to rail against generic clothing designs, to stage a return to "the personality and the individuality and the intelligence from the kinds of pieces you found in the 1940s and the 1950s."
Saying that many designs today felt more like uniforms than something unique, Ptak explained, "there's no reason that we should be a clone."
With the show having started filming this summer, Ptak couldn't say how far she had gone in the competition, or whether or not she was still a contestant. But she did explain that despite the invasiveness of reality television, adrenaline and purpose helped her ride it out.
"Whether there's a camera in front of you or not, you're still basically being given a job and a deadline to finishing it in time," Ptak said. "You're in the process as soon as an idea is put out on the table from either Tim Gunn or Heidi... your brain starts worrying, starts charging up to problem-solve."
The Boston Herald, Sunday, December 27, 2009 by Amy Amatangelo “Turn-ons – TV blasts into 2010 with new characters, old faves”
With most shows napping for the holidays, viewers are feeling stuffed with repeats. That’s about to change as the networks prepare to launch their mid-season lineups. Here’s what’s coming to a small screen near you:
Returning reality shows
After a lackluster season in Los Angeles, Lifetime’s “Project Runway” returns to New York for its seventh season Jan. 14. We’re already rooting for Pamela Ptak of Pittsfield…..
Bucks Magazine, Sept 2006 by Jennifer Smith Tapp “Pamela Ptak – Woman of the Cloth”
“Ask any woman what her ultimate fashion fantasy is, and she will most likely say that she would love to have an article of clothing custom-made for her. Maybe you are a bride-to-be and you want a gown that is a little avant-garde but still sexy and glamorous, or you are looking for something special to wear for that winter escape that you have been looking forward to all year. Bucks County resident and couturier Pamela Ptak is in the business of making wedding and holiday-in-Capri fantasies come true. As the owner & designer of Ptak Couture, Ptak creates one-of-a-kind pieces in a myriad of styles, including eveningwear, resort & separates. Since leaving an advertising stint at Cover Girl to follow her dream to become a fashion designer, she has developed a rather impressive resume, including freelance sewing & embellishing for ultra-luxe label Chado Ralph Rucci and television appearances on HGTV & ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition. More proof that the stars in the fashion galaxy do not all shine in New York City or Paris.”
Eastern Pennsylvania Business Journal, June 27-July 3 2005 by Kathryn F. Clark “Designer sews up fashion career with high end fashion”
“Bucks County couturier Pamela Ptak lives, breathes, loves and creates high fashion…An ocean away from Paris, she nevertheless designs clothing in the tradition of Haute Couture, using the old French methods for draping and handwork. She specializes in French hand sewing, hand beading, embroidery and work with leathers, furs and feathers.”
“Following the path of the great Paris couturiers, Ptak has her own elegant showroom/consulting room, a stripped-down no-nonsense workroom, and a fabric room worthy of a sultan’s palace, where Asian and European textiles are hung in a bold rainbow of shimmering, sparkling colors. They are waiting to be turned into custom-made evening gowns of the kind that could go to the Oscar ceremonies …The gowns fit like a second skin and are as comfortable to wear as they are beautiful to see.”
The Morning Call, Nov. 19, 2004 by Wendy Solomon “A Fashion First”
“…and several mouthwateringly beautiful pieces by…couture designer Pamela Ptak…
Ptak’s vast experience and expertise is easily discernible this night; she is a font of knowledge...
With Ptak, clothing becomes a fascinating intellectual exercise as she dissects and analyzes what makes a piece work or not work.”
The Morning Call, April 8, 2001 by Tina Bradford “Eclectic Fashions of Bucks County Designer”
Pamela Ptak fashion show: “It may have been the finest runway show in the Lehigh Valley since the heyday of Hess’s. Evening wear by Ptak Couture was the highlight as a a capacity crowd lunched & mingled…”
“If you have a great vision inside you and are meant to be a Coco Chanel, you can screw it up by being afraid of it,” says Pamela Ptak. “You just have to not be afraid.”
A couture teacher at the Baum School of Art in Allentown will be the latest fashion designer “making it work” on Lifetime’s “Project Runway,” which airs next month.
Bucks Magazine, Sept 2006 by Jennifer Smith Tapp
