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ABOUT MY JOURNEY
“There is no design without construction — and no great construction without creativity.”
My name is Arena Page. I’ve spent my career inside the world where design becomes real — the messy, technical, intuitive middle between the sketch and the catwalk.
This course is born from those years in the industry: the late nights, the sleeves that wouldn’t fit, the wins, the losses, and the absolute magic of making things work.
Now, I’m stepping into a new chapter — sharing everything I know to keep this craft alive and pass it on to the next generation of creators, makers, and thinkers.
Let me tell you how this started.
It wasn’t on a runway. It wasn’t in a studio. It was early — stitching tiny outfits by hand for my dolls and obsessing over how clothes came together.
That obsession never really left me. I went on to graduate with a First Class Honours degree in Fashion Design and moved to London to complete a Masters at London College of Fashion. As soon as I arrived, I knew I’d stay. London had the energy, the ambition — the pull. But breaking in? That was something else entirely.
I was a young mum, interviewing for internships. I still remember one interview clearly — being told: “Fashion doesn’t stop at 6pm. No one in fashion has children.” I left in tears, thinking that was the end of it.
Luckily, it wasn’t.
I landed an internship helping with patterns, and that’s where the real education began. I learned fast. I loved it. While other grads chased the dream of “being a designer,” I discovered something deeper: The joy of making things work. Of translating ideas into form. Of solving problems no one else could even see.
Pattern cutting is the bridge between fantasy of the designer and the actual real finished garment.
Where design becomes real — or falls apart. The relationship between the body and the fabric, shape, function.
It’s easy to romanticise design, but there is no design without construction. And no good cutting without creativity. The real magic is in how those two meet — in the lines, the curves, the details, the methodologies.
I taught myself most of it through pure trial and error. Walking home at night, replaying every issue in my head. Asking myself: “How do I fix that sleeve head?” or “Why didn’t that collar lie flat?” Sure, there were some brilliant senior cutters and teachers along the way. But the deeper training started when I discovered drape.
And then came Ralph&Russo.
A world apart. Immaculate couture. Precision down to the millimetre. Every client a different body shape, every piece, every corset, peplum, dress, jacket draped from scratch. It was intense, intimidating — and deeply validating.
There, I realised two things:
1. How much mastery still lay ahead.
2. How much I loved being inside a world where excellence was the bare minimum.
So many years later I have come to what feels like the end of this chapter and my love for the industry as it is today. This is for many reasons (all I will cover in detail). I did always enjoy passing on my skills when there was a chance. I see that now more than ever there is a serious issue with skill shortage in London.
Even though I’ve reached a new chapter: I’m building a brand of my own. And before I fully step away from studio life, there’s something I need to do:
I need to pass this on.
Because if we don’t teach drape, if we don’t teach real pattern cutting, we will lose the heart of what makes fashion work. And I don’t want to sit back and watch that happen.
So this course I am creating is for:
- The students who never got the training
- The pattern cutters ready to step up
- The designers with vision, but no one who can make it real
And maybe, it’s for the next generation with big imagination — who just needs someone to show them how to turn it into something you can actually wear.
My Experience Includes:
- Masters Graduate, London College of Fashion
- Over a decade working in London’s luxury fashion and couture scene
- Former Head of RTW Patterns at Ralph & Russo
- Intimate knowledge of what it takes to bring ideas to life — from sketch to catwalk
Worked on high-profile client projects that required absolute precision — including custom couture pieces for Michelle Obama
Brands I’ve contributed to include: Victoria Beckham, Ralph & Russo, COS, Galvan London, Miss Sohee, The Own Studio, and more
- Author of “Creative Pattern Technology,” published in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education — a solo research paper exploring how industrial 3D design software (not fashion-specific at the time) could be adapted to enhance creative pattern cutting and draping processes.
- Exhibited at the Moscow Design Museum as part of British Design and the Digital Revolution, in partnership with the V&A and Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (2014).
- Invited Speaker at the British Fashion Council’s Creative Cutting Seminar at Somerset House, London — presenting on experimental design methods and inspiring the next generation.
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