By Tammy Smith | SunHerald.com
In an unassuming building on Dedeaux Road, Nadine Hancock transforms material into the stuff of which dreams are made. Lace, satin, velvet, jersey, chiffon — bolts of fabric used to spin creations for special occasions sit near bolts of brightly colored African print fabrics, all awaiting the inspiration of Hancock and her clients.
She is best known in South Mississippi for her prom dresses, but Hancock took her talents to the annual Top Design Competition, presented by New Orleans Fashion Week, and came away with a third place recognition.
Eighteen years ago, she came to South Mississippi from Kingston, Jamaica, because of a job.
“I had wanted to come to America,” she said. “Everyone wants to come to America. I was a teacher in Jamaica, back in the high school. I worked at the Beau Rivage for three years, wonderful years with wonderful people. So for three years, I was doing dishes and then became a prep cook, then I was able to open my own business.”
That was a hair salon. For seven years, Hancock styled hair and, in the process, made connections. She also began teaching cosmetology. Then, a skill she had acquired years earlier returned to her life.
Years before, back in Jamaica, her mother had sent her to pattern-making classes so she could have a practical skill. Her son, Javaughn Elliott, expressed an interest in sewing, and once a pawn shop sewing machine entered the house, “somehow that sealed the deal for me,” she says. Sewing became her passion, and she decided to make it a career. It wasn’t a fleeting interest for Javaughn; now a college student; he continues to pursue his in fashion but for men’s designs.
As for Hancock, she named her fledgling business Dorcas Couture, after her mother, Dorcas Elaine Gentles, who died in 2010 after a longtime battle with lupus. Opening in January 2015, Dorcas Couture specializes in prom and special occasion dresses. She still teaches, as program chairman at Blue Cliff College.
“My day, Monday through Friday, is, I’m a teacher by day and by night I’m a seamstress,” she says.
Beautiful dresses are her hallmark.