arts&life

fashion

S

lim and trim with a sweet
face, velvety brown eyes
and glossy brown hair,
Bloomfield Hills-based fash-
ion designer Olivia Rita Oram
exudes an Audrey Hepburn-
ish kind of vibe. And it turns
out the 28-year-old is not just
beautiful, she is also extremely
talented.
From the time she was a
child, Oram clearly remembers
watching her grandmother,
Sabiha, make clothes right in
front of her and began creating
clothes for herself while still
a young teen. “I would make

Passion For

Fashion

JUDITH HARRIS SOLOMON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Local designer Olivia

Rita Oram is following

her dreams.

THIS PAGE: Olivia Rita Oram wearing a handmade headband
she designed. INSET: Venus Williams wore Oram’s design to
the 2010 U.S. Open.

38

August 9 • 2018

jn

them with whatever I could
find,” she says. “I remember
taking apart pants from my
closet, then cutting them up
and hand-stitching the pieces
into a skirt. And once I got a
sewing machine at the age of
18 I taught myself how to make
everything, including my own
patterns.”
In 2010, at the age of 20,
Oram entered a 10-week design
contest that was sponsored by
Tide Plus Febreze Freshness
Sport. Entrants were asked to
design an outfit for tennis pro
Venus Williams to wear when
she played at the U.S. Open that
year. By the end of the 10-week
contest, more than 35,000
entries were submitted. Then,
after studying the submissions
of 60 finalists, the tennis star
declared Oram’s design the win-
ner, calling it “very New York,
very classy, very pretty and very
Venus.” She wore the design in
round two of the tournament.
As a result of winning the
contest, Olivia received a trip
for two to New York (including
airfare and hotel), $5,000, tickets s
to see Williams compete in the
U.S. Open wearing the winning
design, an autographed pic-
ture of Williams wearing the
design, autographed tennis
balls plus social media and
TV exposure, which included
a mention on the Today show.