“I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AN ARTIST AND AN INNOVATOR. BECOMING A DESIGNER WAS THE PERFECT MARRIAGE OF PURPOSE & AESTHETICS”
“I TAKE INSPIRATION FROM BIOMIMICRY AND THE WORLDS GREATEST Inventor, NATURE”
Hillary started her career in the arts attending the renowned art high school, Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Canada. Attending art school at a young age allowed Hillary to explore various mediums and collaborate with other artists where she discovered her passion for apparel design and textile arts. From there, Hillary was accepted to the Fashion Design school at Toronto Metropolitan University where she learned the hard skills of apparel design and manufacturing, winning several awards for her final graduating collection including the Alfred Sung Creative Design Award.
The debut collection under her grandmothers name, Ruth Weil, struck a chord with the fashion industry at large who recognized the blossoming talent of this young designer. Featured in several publications and becoming one of the most pinned images on pinterest, the collection caught the eye of Iris van Herpen in 2013. Hillary moved to Amsterdam and worked as the design assistant for Iris, pattern drafting, laser cutting, draping and hand sewing many of the couture gowns and part of the ready to wear collections shown at Paris Couture Fashion Week in the spring of 2013.
From there, Hillary moved to London to work with Mary Katrantzou as a design assistant and product developer, further developing her technical skills and experience in high end luxury design.
Once Hillary returned to North America in 2014, she felt an undeniable pull towards the innovative technology of 3D printing and material development. She moved to Brooklyn, New York to attend a NYU to master 3D printing and computational fashion design. While there, Hillary collaborated with fellow student Billy Dang to create the Poseidon piece, a 3D printed wearable based on biomimicry. The piece mimicked shark scales and was printed in one singe piece using laser sintering technology. This piece was exhibited at Dutch Design Week, New York Fashion Week, and featured in many publications worldwide for its unique engineering and fabrication technique. The piece contained over 800 interconnected and movable pieces on a mesh base, each scale moves individually on a hinge system allowing fluid movement despite being comprised of a rigid material.
After finishing the computational design course and realizing the limitations of 3D printing in the realm of apparel, Hillary shifted her focus back to where she began, the arts. She took a position as the Artistic Design Director for the Toronto based apparel brand, Nuvango (Gelaskins). Hillary collaborated with international artists like Callen Schaub, The London Police, Ron English, and Carnovsky among many others. Hillary designed a collection of 23 looks for the brand for Toronto Fashion Week, curated 5 art shows for the brands gallery in Downtown Toronto, and managed the factory and design business for several years.
In 2017 Hillary was scouted by the Design Director for White House Black Market and asked to join the Trend and Concept team where she flourished setting the tone and aesthetic direction for the entire brand season after season. Visual storytelling, color direction, print curation, and trend presentations were just some of her contributions during her time in concept and trend direction. While working for the brand, Hillary started a company wide innovation competition which had record setting participation from all sectors of the publicly traded parent company, Chico’s FAS.
Since leaving Chico’s during the pandemic, Hillary has built a successful business as a trend consultant and design director for several apparel brands Including Muscle Republic, Elegant Baby, PopFlex, Fringe & Co, and a domani sleep.
While maintaining her client roster of brands, Hillary is also working as a sculptor and artist, utilizing plexiglass and leather as her mediums of choice. With 15 years of experience in many sectors of the fashion industry Hillary maintains her love for the arts, and never wants to loose what makes her aesthetic vision unique. Hillary will always be an artist at the core.
fashion
ART
Innovation
EXPERIENCE
Freelance Designer Director| New Orleans, USA
2020 - Present
Lead teams of designers in creating innovative apparel for a variety of target markets. Oversee development process from trend direction, to product development liaising with vendors and manufacturers to produce high quality apparel products. Scope of work includes: developing trend presentations, seasonal concepts, product development & fit, sourcing, assortment planning, print development, and production management.
Clients Include: Muscle Republic, Elegant Baby, a domani sleep, Pirdie Golf, Popflex Active, Thunderwear Apparel, Fringe + Co.
White House Black Market | FL, USA
Knit Tops Designer 2019 - 2020
Design & developed over 100 styles quarterly in partnership with executive leadership. Responsible for growing a 90 million dollar a year business through innovative product design and sustainability initiatives. Managed a team of junior designers and developed product assortments while maintaining organization across multiple seasons at various stages of the product life cycle calendar. Collaborate with cross functional teams and communicate daily with overseas factories.
Trend & Concept Designer 2017 - 2019
Provide strategic creative direction & initiate brand wide design concepts for all of White House Black Market design teams. Create mood boards, color palettes, key look sketches & trends presentations for the design, marketing, and buying teams. Initiated an innovation think tank & annual company wide idea competition with over 300 participants company wide.
Sears Canada | Toronto, Canada
Lead Womenswear Designer 2017
Design & develop private label products for all womenswear categories. Work with design director to develop seasonal category assortments. Managed teams of product developers and technical designers to create seasonal product assortments based on trend research and market analysis. Approve strike offs, lab dips, and final samples for production for all fashion womenswear categories.
Nuvango (Gelaskins) | Toronto, Canada
Design Director 2015 - 2017
Establish a strong design perspective for a fine art and sublimation print focused brand. Develop product assortment for a vertically integrated factory, working with in house cutters, sewers and printers while pioneering efficiencies for on-demand manufacturing techniques. Manage a team of designers to develop new products for all apparel categories including men, women, and kids. Meet with investors, executive leadership, and high profile clients to foster new business relationships and consult on high-level strategy. Identify new opportunities for collaboration, investment, and business partnerships.
3D Printed Exoskeleton “Poseidon” | New York, USA
NYU Polytechnic Institute 2014
Developed concept and designed 3D printed exoskeleton inspired by biomimicry and emerging 3D printing technology. Modeled after shark scales called “denticles”, and 3D printed in one print, yet consists of over 800 individual movable and interconnected pieces. “Poseidon” was the first design of its kind to utilize tesselations consisting of a mesh “skin” base layer with a hinge system supporting the varying sizes of scales. The award winning design has been featured at Dutch Design Week, Eyebeam gallery during NYFW, and heralded by many publications for its unique contribution to advancements in 3D printed textiles inspired by biomimicry.
Mary Katrantzou | London, UK
Product Development & Design 2013 - 2014
Develop embellishments for the London Fashion Week runway collection. Participate in fittings and communicate fit, embellishment and print changes to cross functional teams. Assist in developing product for the Adidas collaboration.
Iris van Herpen | Amsterdam, NL
Atelier Designer 2013
Oversee construction of garments on display in the exhibit “Transforming Fashion”. Collaborate with architects to facilitate the production of 3D printed dresses by communicating measurements, design details and fabrication concepts.
Hillary Sampliner | Toronto, Canada
Design Director 2010 - 2014
Received accolades from the press for runway shows and 3D printing work. Ruth Weil evening wear worn by celebrities at the TIFF film festival & Juno Awards red carpet. Produced custom gowns & wedding dresses for high-profile clients.