Caroline Hayden Article

The following is an article printed in today's Grand Forks Herald about our sponsor, Caroline Hayden Brost. We are proud of Caroline and are greatly appreciative of her sponsorship and friendship to the Miss Montana Scholarship Program!

Grand Forks HeraldSat. June 6th, 2009 - Both Miss Grand Forks and Miss Empire will leave for Williston early this morning to begin their pageant week. They saw their finished gowns designed by Caroline Hayden of Crookston, MN for the first time Friday during final fittings at the Empire Arts Center in Grand Forks, where they won their titles in March.

Kirkeide’s form-fitting black duchess satin and chiffon dress, with its sweetheart neckline and mermaid style skirt, was inspired by the gown Rosemary Clooney wore in the 1954 movie “White Christmas” in a nightclub scene where Clooney sang about her broken heart.“Rosemary Clooney sang, "Love, You Didn’t Do Right by Me," Kirkeide said, “I’ve been wanting that dress basically since I was 4 or 5 years old!”

Hayden said she knew the style would be perfect for Kirkeide’s Jennifer Lopez-like curves.Stofferahn knew Hayden's work and said she trusted her instincts in choosing an evening gown style for the Miss North Dakota pageant.

For Stofferahn, Hayden went with a design she’d wanted to do for a long time, a white gown with a hand-beaded bodice and a flowing bias draped skirt of raw silk. The bodice is embellished with Swarovski crystals and pearl beads.“I beaded all of this myself. It took hundreds of hours. I love her that much,” Hayden said, looking at Stofferahn and laughing. “And I’m a little crazy.”

Hayden grew up in Perham, Minn., where her mother, Sarah Hayden, is a successful business owner of Bay Window Quilt Shop.“When I was little, I would go to my mom’s store and I would sew these little makeshift pants and tops for friends,” Hayden said. “I was exploring how to make things.” But she never really wore what she made, Hayden said.“I think what held me back was I’m kind of a perfectionist and it was never good enough,” she said. “That’s something I still struggle with.”

After high school graduation, Caroline enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie and channeled her creative talents, including art and music, into fashion. In the last month of school, Hayden said she got her first real inkling of her future career when the “wearable art” gowns she designed won Best of Show and Designer’s Choice in a studio show. She then was one of nine young designers nominated for the Fashion Group International's annual design competition in Chicago. She also interned for Donna Karan in New York City.

During this time, Hayden competed in the Miss Minnesota, Miss Wisconsin, and Miss North Dakota Pageants. After she finished competing, she began designing pageant gowns for friends. She now works with an experienced seamstress in Grand Forks as well as a new production source overseas while developing her first line of gowns and cocktail dresses. She is careful to follow her mother’s advice — “Be patient” — in growing her business.

So far, her success has been primarily from positive word-of-mouth, she said.“I’ve only been doing this full time for two years, but in those years I’ve had a few clients come back for multiple custom garments just because they can’t imagine getting them anywhere else,” she said. “That’s probably the biggest compliment I’ve received.”

If her business grows as she hopes, she’s adamant about designing and creating high-quality gowns.“I don’t want to send a gown out that doesn’t fit right, that’s too short or isn’t beaded right,” Hayden said. “I am really working with the factory now to get them to understand — It’s not a prom gown. It’s not your typical off the rack pageant gown. It’s special.”