Agata Pieniek is a Toronto based clothing and accessories designer I had the pleasure of meeting at The Kit Connect’s first annual conference. Her tobacco jumpsuit jumped out at me! I knew I had to learn more when I found out that she made it herself. Agata is a Virgo Sun, Aries Moon and Cancer Ascendant, which makes her a perfectionist with drive and creativity!
How into astrology are you on a scale of one to ten?
Maybe a 5? I haven’t really done it but I’ve always been interested in it. One time my grandma, she went to see someone who tells you the future. I was really intrigued by it back then, I asked her, ‘what did she say? I want to do it too!’. My grandma said it was very personal, you’re too little to do these kinds of things. But I thought it was cute.
Describe your aesthetic for me!
It’s a little bit of everything – I find that when I travel I get more inspiration, just because I think, you’re relaxed, you’re usually going to countries that trigger your inspiration. Because of my background as an urban planner, I really like the buildings, shapes, and lines of architecture that translate into a minimalist look in my designs.
What inspired you to become a fashion designer?
I’ve always had that in me. I was working as an urban planner, that’s what I went to school for, at one point I just got bored of it, I didn’t have enough fulfillment in terms of the creative aspect. I just wanted to do something different. My boyfriend suggested this competition that was happening with the Toronto Fashion Incubator called Fashion your Future, and that’s how I started. I ended up winning the competition, and it was incredible for me because I didn’t have any background in fashion. I designed an accessory line of leather eyewear cases. From there, I got more interested in the fashion industry specifically clothing, so I started learning on my own which was a bit tricky because at the time I was YouTubing things and reading a lot on how to sew. I eventually took classes at George Brown to consolidate my knowledge. I feel like I’m still starting, it’s been a long process!
Apart from your leather accessories, you create beautiful jumpsuits. What inspired you to take that route?
When I started doing the accessories, I wanted to do something that was not on the market. I wanted to be a niche. One important aspect of my designs is to have a functional aspect. I found that jumpsuits are very practical because it’s one piece, you don’t have to think about what you’re going to wear it with. You can accessorize jumpsuits to play with them, but essentially it’s very easy for you to pick one thing to get dressed in the morning.
I love how sophisticated your jumpsuits are!
That’s one thing I was looking for jumpsuits on the market, they were very pajama-like. They weren’t adjusted. I make sure that they’re feminine. They need to be adjusted on the waist, they have little details that emphasize the shape of a woman.
If someone doesn’t have a jumpsuit yet, which one of your jumpsuits would you start them on?
I really love the denim one that I’m wearing! I feel like it would suit any skin tone. It can be very casual, but you can accessorize it with some jewelry or a nice belt.
How do you want your customer to feel?
Comfortable! Feeling confident and happy about how it hangs on them is important to me.
What are some of you goals for 2017?
I would like to design a collection of jumpsuits that are a little broader, I would like to feature them at private events and to be more recognized.
Are you sold anywhere right now?
My accessories are sold at two eyewear stores, but for the jumpsuits, since it’s pretty new, I’ve been selling them to my direct network, made to measure. It’s different than just buying a piece, I have to rework the pattern to their measurements. Readers can contact me if they are interested in a made to measure AGZ Designs jumpsuit.
