(light electronic music) - Fashion is the armor that every single person wears.

It's a way to externalize who you are inside.

(light electronic music continues) My name is Stephanie Schultz and I am a fashion designer.

To me, fashion design (sewing machine whirring) is more than just making clothes.

It's about also telling a narrative and telling a story with what I'm making.

At least I feel like that's my responsibility as a fashion designer, especially being a couturier and working in more of high fashion.

They're a bit tight, but they look so good.

The difference between ready-to-wear and couture or high fashion, it's more about like, when do you wanna use it?

When do you wanna wear it?

And everybody's personal style is different.

So for me, what I wear as my casual may be somebody's like way out there, super fancy outfit.

(gentle music) I think I have a distinctly unique look about my work, especially if you're looking at my work compared to other Milwaukee designers.

I'm the only one who does like historically influenced high fashion.

You look so beautiful.

And I've never really felt like I personally fit into any kind of subculture completely.

Like I don't completely fit into goth subculture.

I don't completely fit into Japanese street fashion culture.

I don't completely fit into steampunk.

I'm an amalgamation of all of these things and so is my work.

(gentle music continues) Part of what my responsibility is as a designer is showcasing that beauty comes in a lot of different forms.

(gentle music continues) I've always been a person who's a little bit outside the box.

That's why couture is great, because it allows me to be rebellious, but with my fashion.

Couture doesn't have to follow any kind of rules, which is really exciting.

(gentle music continues) (feet thumping) The hardest part of being a designer is when you are designing something first and then figuring out, "Okay, what's the geometry of this shape that's happening here?

How do I make that into a 3D piece?"

(light piano music) (sewing machine whirring) So when I'm designing, I like to create pieces that do have lacing in the back or a little bit of stretch or cut on the bias so that they conform to the body a little bit better.

Because I like to make sure that the piece that somebody is getting from me is going to last them for a really long time.

(light piano music continues) When I'm making things that are really feminine, I use a lot of ruffles and I use a lot of flouncy kinds of fabrics, and I use a lot of really nice high-end textiles and things that are very delicate.

(light piano music continues) I definitely wanted to build a high fashion collection inspired by the Victorian art collection here at the hotel.

(dramatic music) The Pfister has the largest collection of Victorian art anywhere in the country.

It gives me a place to start, but it's not that I'm making exact replicas of what's in the paintings.

It's me interpreting what's there into something that's high fashion and into something that's modern with that historic element to it.

(dramatic music continues) There were some interesting elements in all of these paintings that I really wanted to draw inspiration from and translate into fabric and have a living painting.

(dramatic music continues) And do my interpretation of them where you get the general idea of, well, you look at them and you say, "Oh yeah, it's that painting, definitely."

(dramatic music continues) People are so far removed from the making process of things.

(sewing machine whirring) People will be able to see the actual process of how a thing is made, and I'm hoping that it'll give them a greater appreciation for clothing, whether or not it's ready-to-wear.

(dramatic music continues) Fashion is more than clothing.

Fashion is art.

(dramatic music continues) (bright music) - Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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