Local designer to make fashion show debut at Polson Night Market

After the 16-year marriage to her business partner fell apart, Melissa Schmidt got out of the hair salon business and moved back home to Vernon.

That’s when her mother and grandmother gave her a sewing machine.

“I could not stop sewing,” says Schmidt, sitting on a pink velvet love seat in her home-based studio for Simple Clothing.

Schmidt considers herself an "intuitive clothing artist" because she's self taught and doesn’t know much about using a pattern for her designs.

Before finding sewing, she thought she loved her career as a makeup artist and educator, “but it wasn’t until I actually felt how this (sewing) feels.”

She likens her connection to designing to falling in love for the first time, thinking: “Oh, this is how it’s supposed to feel.”

That first sewing machine was a Singer “Simple.”

The name brand that was eye level as Schmidt sewed through her tears became more than the catalyst for her company name and designs, it became a way of life.

“My life prior to Simple was pure chaos,” she says. “I worked 60-80 hours, my phone was constantly ringing. I had 15 to 20 staff at all times ... it was just crazy.”

Schmidt is hoping Simple Clothing Company will allow people to collectively exhale while enjoying her athleisure fashions.

“I love to make clothes that are inclusive for people, that are comfortable, but still very unique and high fashion,” she says.

Tonight’s Polson Artisan Night Market will be Simple Clothing’s big reveal, with its first ever fashion show. Schmidt will be among local designers showcasing their fashions at the bandshell, starting at 6:30 p.m.

The Polson Night market runs every Friday, 4-8 p.m. until the middle of September.