Susie Benitez, the wardrobe manager at Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia talked with Philadelphia Magazine’s Kristen Schott about showing her first collection at New York Fashion Week and her upcoming nuptials at William Penn Inn in Gwynedd.

Benitez got her big break to show her collection at New York Fashion Week after an alumni fashion show at her alma mater, Albright College, in Reading. She and six other alumni were given the opportunity to showcase their collections on September 9.

Besides her job at Live!Casino! and preparing her collection, Benitez has also been planning her wedding and designing her own wedding dress.

On her collection, which she called Buttons in Bloom, she said, “It’s my first collection, but I’ve been sewing since I was eight. My grandma taught me, and I took sewing classes on the weekends. I’ll have an expanded version of the collection I debuted in May — I showed three then and will add another four that the judges selected for Fashion Week.”

Benitez said that she loves the ‘50’s and described the collection as “candy-colored meets the ’50s and vintage silhouettes.”

Her wedding dress she said was inspired by the 2015 adaptation of Cinderella and has 13 layers of different colors.

Read more about Susan Benitez and her fashion designs at Philadelphia Magazine.

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