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Pamela Heath – Steamer Trunk Satins: The Bridal Company That Provides Accessories for Bridal and Special Occasions
A strong visual intuition for color nuances, patterns, and textiles led Pamela Heath into a career of art publishing for major museums. She most recently has produced art books for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. Building on a journalism background (B.A.and M.A.) in fashion and communication, she has joined the staff of Agenda to cover the bridal and wedding components of the magazine. Working as CEO and designer of Steamer Trunk Satins (a fashion house creating bead-embellished veils, garters, chokers, jewel bouquets, and coordinating tiaras), she is adept at researching the industry and assisting brides with their wedding needs and resources. For brides and their attendants, nothing is more reassuring than her motivation and commitment to enhancing the inner and outer beauty of women!
Pamela Heath is the CEO and principal designer of Steamer Trunk Satins, a Southern California company, a design house, which creates satin and velvet chokers embellished with beads, lace garters, veils, and tiaras . They utilize the technique of virtual painting with beads, giving their pieces bursts of color. Their veils are two-tiered and hand beaded with a variety of colorful patterns with pearls and monochromatic beads. Each garter can be beaded to coordinate with the bride’s veil. Steamer Trunk Satins works with the brides from conception to completion.
So how did Pamela Heath, an art book producer for the Getty Museum, get involved in bridal accessories? Well, she was going out to a lot of clubs at night and wanted something to wear that would stand out. Pamela had a lot of friends who were performers in the music industry. She really just wanted to wear something more vibrant. From there, Pamela started to make chokers for her musician friends on stage. She also started designing costumes.
Pamela had applied and was accepted to FIDM, and before she was about to begin classes, she realized that she had had enough school at that point.
All Pamela really wanted to do was bridal and special occasion accessories. She had been attending a lot of bridal fairs with her sister who was planning her wedding, and Pamela was helping her prepare for a strict, traditional wedding with a lot of attendants. Pamela and her sister were looking for things that would be both suitable and universal for the wedding. It was then that Pamela came up with the idea of fusing beads with bridal veils, chokers, and garters. And because of the sizing issues (with varying neck sizes), she chose to make those particular items herself, also designing the veils and the garters as an ensemble.
Pamela has been in publishing for 15 years and has produced art books for the Getty Museum. “I am just a visual person, so I was sketching. I had to take fashion at FIDM anyway, so I just got involved in the bridal stuff. I was still paying off my grad school loans. I have a Master’s in Visual Communications, and I’ve done a little retail sales. In the past I sold cosmetics (Clinique and Lancôme), and was comfortable designing for women, including myself.”
Pamela conceived of Steamer Trunk Satins 2 years ago, and in the process, a lot of things happened, where she was unsure about taking that step. But she did it. She attended a bridal exhibit in January—it was Steamer Trunk Satins’ first show, and she really wanted some feedback. Many of the exhibitors who had been in the industry for a while had never seen anything like it, and that was very encouraging to Pamela.
“I am a really detailed person, and it was what I liked to do. It was a hobby, and I am glad that it eventually turned into a business.”
Pamela showed me some of her accessories and talked about the most traditional ones—the veil and garter.
“The veils are frosting. Even with the simplest ceremony, it is the symbol that indicates you’re a bride. You only wear a veil on your wedding day. The garters naturally came together. But also, I like the idea of bringing back something traditional.”
How did you come up with the name?
“The name Steamer Trunk Satins is actually from an old steamer trunk my great aunts had from 1912, and WWI, which I inherited—my great grandmother was a nurse in that war. The trunk reads ‘Nursing Sister.’
“Growing up , I was raised by a lot of women. And I was very close to my grandmother, my mother, and 2 aunts. One of my aunts was a ballroom dancer, and when I could barely walk, she had gotten me into ‘shimmer and sparkle.’ My sister and I took ballet, but we didn’t like it. We might have even been asked not to return the next year.” Pamela laughed. “So making costumes behind the scenes worked better for me.”
Highest High
“My highest high happened at my first bridal fair. Before we even started, and before the brides-to-be had entered, a fellow exhibitor came up to our booth and commented that it was the best one there—that it was really novel. Now that was when I knew I should be doing this.”
Lowest Low
“At one point, I wondered if this whole bridal thing was just a big waste of energy, and if this idea would ever get out of my head. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy, and I had a lot of doubt in the beginning.”
How long had it been before you put your ideas into motion?
“Well, my manly man website designer came up with this really amazing feminine website the first time out. And in maybe 6 months (with a year of trial and error), it eventually came together.
“ I remember skipping my home economic classes when I was in school—I was the total feminist. I was actually close to failing home economics, which was unheard of at the time. My teacher called my mother and asked her why was I always missing school on those days. Later, I ended up taking sewing classes at the Santa Monica Sewing Arts Center. And the sewing machine I now have used to belong to my mother. She actually made our Halloween and ballet costumes on it.”
Advice Pamela Gives to Start-Up Businesses:
“Stick with it. There will be setbacks—just accept that. Do a lot of research and don’t be afraid to try new things.”
What’s Next?
“I hope this is something I can be doing well into my 60s and 70s. I’d like to expand into halters and other pieces. I don’t know if I’ll get married, but I’m glad I have my wedding veils. My pieces are really a feminine outlet for me. When I am working as an artwork producer, everything is just print. So this is something tangible.”
To learn more about Steamer Trunk Satins, visitwww.steamertrunksatins.com.
Interview by Kaylene Peoples
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In the early hours of Saturday, May 19, several hundred women snaked around Veterans Memorial Complex Auditorium, Los Angeles, for the annual event known as “Shoe Frenzy.” Featuring over 5,500 pairs of donated designer shoes, boots, sandals, and slippers, the venue is converted into a virtual shoe warehouse lasting a few hours and ending by noon. During this timeframe shoppers enter “in a calm fashion” as his/her lottery ticket numbers are called, much like a number system at a deli. L.A.P.D. officers are on hand for “security reasons”. The booty: Uggs, BeBe, Nine West, Michael Kors, Dansko, and Calvin Klein to name a few of the generous donors. No pair is over $50 but our team seized $30 Ugg mules and $15 Killah and M.O.D. wedges to name a few. Other “deals” included two pairs of children’s shoes for $5. To put that in perspective, you can buy a pair of shoes for roughly the price of a cappuccino.