Tigerlily

A local fashion designer whose push and big break came after Hurricane Ivan has made it big.

So much so, that the Cayman Island High School graduate, Tamara Hill – known to her business associates as Tigerlily Hill – now sports her own clothing line – the Crown Atelier collection.

Not only has her upward climb to fame gotten her recognition on the catwalks of the United States and on the backs of stars such as Britney Spears, Hillary Duff and UK actress and pop star Martine McCutcheon, but also recognition of her hometown George Town.

The floral ‘George town’ dress along with other vibrant an lively tie-dye-like cotton T-shirt, ‘acid wash’ T-shirts sporting colourful parrots, the Cayman blue iguana and signature jackets are all unique creations of Ms Hill and partner Red Sturgeon.

After losing all her personal possessions to the Hurricane and finding out the islands wildlife had been further endangered Ms Hill reunited with university classmate Red Sturgeon to promote awareness about endangered species with lively, colourful clothing.

Short and sexy items in tropical colours highlight Crown Atelier’s collection targets ages 14 up to 45. Wholesale prices range from $32 to $40 cotton T-shirts, signature ruffled jacket $68 and silk pieces $98.

Her clothes can be found in US stores Sugar on La Brea, Sirens & Sailors, Erica Dee, Dale Michelle (Beverly Hills) and Fred Segal and soon to be in Lucky and WWD magazines.

‘Business has been very successful’ said Ms Hill. It was hard at first to find a showroom but I was lucky. They saw my stuff and loved it.

‘The next step was getting the orders and then production started since that time it has been uphill.

‘A lot of the money is put back into the business because when you only have a certain amount of sales. It is more expensive to produce, but the more orders I get, the cheaper the production becomes. We have racked up about $30,000 in sales already.’

Ms Hill said all of her designs are started from scratch. The fabric is purchase and taken to a dye house then to sample maker.

‘Ideally what I would like to do is have my own store not just my designs. At present I am in the process of seeking out a place here in Cayman.

Wanting to give back a little into the community Ms Hill said that part of her proceeds would go to the National Trust to help with protecting endangered species.