Courtney Brooke - About

Courtney Brooke Yates began her career by sewing quilts and designing and making clothes for her dolls in Maryville, TN where she was born and grew up. She envisioned dresses and attempted to make patterns out of brown paper when she was only 7 years old. By middle school, Courtney was always begging to go to the local fabric store to browse through the sewing patterns, fabrics, and trims. Her mother and Grandmother furthered her technical knowledge by showing her how to read the patterns and construct a dress properly. Courtney began to dream of making clothes for a living, but in her home town this didn’t seem possible. By high school Courtney was making most of her clothing and altering patterns into her own designs. She even won “Best Dressed.” When beginning to think about college Courtney researched how she could make clothes for a career and began watching fashion shows on the E! Network and realizing this could be possible. At 15, Courtney knew she had to move to NYC and design clothes one day.

Courtney attended college at Radford University in Radford, VA, which offered a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Design. She received the Art Society of Radford University scholarship and was honored to be the Key Note speaker for the annual society dinner her senior year as well as several RU Foundation Scholarships. When not sewing, designing, draping, or patternmaking, Courtney worked in the International Education Center where she decided to study abroad her sophomore year. Courtney attended American Intercontinental University in London, England where she studied art history, American vs British fashion, history of denim and its uses, and garment construction. Courtney was a member of the Honors Academy at Radford, which required research based course work on top of her regular curriculum. Courtney has researched textile design, 1400s historic costume, and her capstone was on movies with 1700s historic costumes and its influences in modern fashion. Courtney also received a faculty/student research grant to research Appalachian Women’s Dress in the 1920s in collaboration with the Mabry Mill Museum, which culminated in a research paper that was submitted to ITAA and donation of information and accurate garments to the museum. Courtney was involved in leadership as an orientation leader, freshman orientation class teacher, admissions and International Education representative, host for scholarship competition, and community service. She graduated in the top of her class as Magna Cum Laude and was a Highlander Scholar. Her Junior year Courtney got an internship in New York city and her senior year she won “Best Cocktail Wear” in the annual student fashion show.

After college Courtney moved to NYC to pursue her dream of being a designer. She began working in the industry immediately, but after working for a while she decided to start her own line designing and making custom wedding gowns. She continued working while running her business, but found herself so busy with her business she was able to leave her full time job to pursue her own company full time. In 2009, Courtney was chosen to be in Supima Cotton’s Emerging Designer contest as a finalist, and received lots of publicity for the event. Courtney attends Mercedes Benz New York Fashion week every season and has been photographed wearing her designs as “best dressed.” Currently, Courtney designs custom and made-to-order wedding gowns and formal wear in New York City while running her business.

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