Master’s Student Mary Nease Brings “Feminist, Alternative” Point of View to Western Wear

By Meredith Jeffers

For Mary Nease, learning to sew was both a necessity and a lifeline. She’d been studying to be a history teacher at Elon University before withdrawing due to health issues. Sewing became her outlet – and sparked a love of plus-size fashion design. 

“My mom taught me how to use a sewing machine and my grandma taught me how to read a pattern, but everything else I taught myself with online sewing blogs and sewing books,” Nease, a student in the Master of Textiles program, says. “I developed a pretty advanced construction skillset, but it’s a little more difficult to teach yourself draping and drafting, especially if you don’t have the appropriate resources.” 

The desire to learn more technical skills and take her size-inclusive designs to the next level led Nease back to UNC Greensboro, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in consumer, apparel, and retail Studies; to a prestigious internship in Nashville; and, finally, to the Wilson College of Textiles. 

“There are so many resources at the Wilson College in terms of both technology and knowledge,” Nease says, adding that even supplying students with the materials to support their plus-size designs has been heartening. “I’ve had a lot of support from the faculty and administration in doing this work, too, which is very encouraging.”    

Honing her craft

Since starting at the Wilson College last fall, Nease has found new ways to explore her own design aesthetic, which she describes as “subverting Americana,” in more conceptual ways. She often takes inspiration from her internship with Manuel Cuevas, who has designed for such icons as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Lady Gaga, in Nashville.

“He’s one of the people that developed our modern sensibility of what makes Western wear,” she says. “I like bringing my own cultural identity to Western wear and adding a feminist, alternative slant to it. I feel like it’s important to show respect for our roots and our history while bringing in a new point of view.” 

Nease keeps that goal central to much of the work she does. In her apparel production class last semester, Nease designed a denim jacket and matching skirt (shown in feature photo) that each blend traditional quilting techniques, like those passed down in her family, with more modern aesthetics. 

“I like taking traditional shapes and styles, but modernizing them in different ways,” she says. 

Redefining tradition 

Her commitment to challenging tradition with a new point of view extends beyond her own work. When the existing plus-size dress forms were broken, Nease successfully campaigned her undergraduate program for new ones. She often volunteered to model in student fashion shows and magazine spreads so that there would be at least one plus-size model. 

“I’ve heard of students going through other design schools without ever making anything larger than a size six,” she says. 

Nease wants to change that. Last fall, she won a 2022 VF Student Award, a $5,000 fellowship intended to support graduate students in their research goals and provide them with professional development opportunities. For her project, Nease will create more standardized instruction guides using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) to help teach students how to develop patterns for women sizes 14 and up.   

“I’m trying to create some resources that bridge the gap between the straight-size instruction and the plus-size instruction,” Nease says. 

This research, and the support from her professors, has even led her to consider switching to the Master of Science in Textiles program so that she can complete a thesis on the topic.  

Longterm, Nease plans to work in plus-size design for a large company. 

“There’s been a lot of positive change [in the industry] that has been really encouraging, but I think there’s a lot more that can be done and companies would benefit from having someone who has been designing and fitting for large bodies their whole life,” she says. 

Until then, Nease intends to leave a lasting impact on the college, especially for students who want to create plus-size designs. 

“No matter what kind of work I personally do, I want to create resources for other people to keep doing that work, too,” Nease says. “It’s a priority for me to make things better for the people that come after me.”