SEW NICE
D
ara Sophia Romero’s fashion designs are more than pretty dresses. Fashion design favors the young and the formally trained. So, at age 42 and with no degree from a top design school like Parsons School of Design to draw from, Romero seemed like a hopeless cause. Instead of looking at the odds stacked against her, Romero embraced her circumstances, even naming her design house Hopeless + Cause Atelier, and following principles that go beyond fancy clothes (though there are plenty of those, too). Romero started sewing in fifth grade largely out of necessity. Her parents had divorced, and her cash-strapped mother didn’t have the money to buy Romero the latest fashions the middle-schooler cov-
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PHOTOS BY RYAN FLANAGAN
DIP INTO THE PERFECTLY MIXED PALETTE OF ABQ’S ART AND ARTISTS
Dara Sophia Romero reverted to her love of fashion after her career in the corporate world took a turn.
eted. If Romero wanted trendy clothing, she’d need to make it. Her grandmother taught her the craft of sewing and the art of fashion design. Romero’s love for design stayed with her as she entered the corporate world, where she worked for decades in human resources and community relations. In 2013, she was laid off. “I was at a crossroads part of my life. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next,” she remembers. She returned to her early passion. Through connections at a local clothing boutique, Romero nabbed tickets to New York Fashion Week. The trip inspired her to invest in now-shuttered Duke City boutique, Runway Apparel, where she connected with fashionista customers who eventually became her design clients. When the boutique closed in 2015, she started working with friends such as Jen-
nifer Riordan, an active participant in the city’s social and charity scenes whose death inspired the Jennifer Riordan Foundation. “Hopeless + Cause Atelier was born in that time because I was feeling hopeless about my future,” Romero remembers. Her custom creations appealed to women searching for one-of-a-kind looks. “A lot of my customers work with me because they’re looking for something they can’t find,” she says. “There’s a typical height and weight for models to be in runway or editorial. That’s not my customer.” Her customers are everyday women. (Romero also works full time as a personal shopper at Macy’s where she helps customers find off-the-rack looks.) She believes that anyone who wants a beautiful dress should be able to have one. Often, she’ll find recycled fabric, such as worn wedding dresses, to make her
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