Dabbling in everything from painting and drawing to music, Noa Sorrell is a young woman of many talents. But when the 11-year-old Dallas girl had to choose her favorite artistic medium, it was fashion all the way.
“I’ve always loved fashion, I was always designing [when I was younger],” Noa told* Glamour* after she presented her first-ever fashion show at L.A. Fashion Week on Tuesday. The newly minted designer showed 10 looks, worn by professional child models at a program attended by the likes of* Project Runway All-Stars* host Alyssa Milano (one of Sorrell’s favorite shows).
The design newbie worked with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to create the Art Hearts Fashion show, produced by ParkerWhitaker Productions and Erik Rosete, in only five weeks—which is pretty impressive for anyone, let alone someone who has only just approached the double digits! “I had chemo at the beginning of this year and just found out that I could make a wish and I wanted my wish to fashion show,” she said. “It was pretty huge! I chose five models that wear 10 pieces altogether.”
Sorrell is getting her design education in innovative ways. She has been studying her own clothes from the inside out, trying to figure out the construction and how she could make her own styles and first learned to sew from the fellow creative women in her family. “The first [piece of clothing] I ever made was with my grandmother, who lives in Brazil,” said Noa. “She taught me how to sew and I learned a little bit about myself. My mom taught me a few tricks that she learned from my grandmother too.”
Noa’s inspiration or the show: “For this collection, I did a lot of floral stuff and a lot of colorful colors. I matched prints with solid colors.”
And of the fashion show experience, Noa got to understand what it’s really like to be a fashion designer. “During the fashion show, it was a little chaotic backstage…we had to get the models changed really fast. I got to see all my looks go down the runway and they looked even better than I imagined.”
While she’s not expanding to retail quite yet, she’s taking personal orders from her girlfriends at school. “I’m not selling anything right now, but I really want to see people wearing my clothes.” To wit: She’s making her friend reversible tank tops, upon request, of course.
Glamour gives the collection two enthusiastic thumbs-up! Take a look at all the styles in Noa’s collection and let us know what you think!
