BY RICHARD TEDESCO
Mario Ramotar said his passion for clothing began as a young boy in Guyana, helping his grandmother, who made dresses for a living.
“I was sewing since I was a child. I grew up with this. My grandmother did this,” Ramotar said. “I was close with her.”
That passion led Ramoar to open Mario Ramo Couture in New Hyde Park 17 years ago and has not left him since.
“I make a lot of woman feel good about themselves. It’s an artistic process. It’s not about selling a dress. It’s creating one,” he said.
Ramotar immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1980s and earned a degree in fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, living with his older sister, who had already been living in New York.
While he was studying at FIT, he started making dresses at his apartment in Queens.
Romotar said the dresses he creates are typically worn for special occasions, such as weddings or bar mitzvahs. His customers generally come to him by referral and he said the price of the dresses he creates start at $800 “and can be a lot more depending on how fancy you want.”
Ramotar opened his first shop on Jericho Turnpike in New Hyde Park in 1997, and moved to his current location at 915 2nd Ave in 2007. He said the rent for the Jericho Turnpike location had become too expensive and he found his current location in an industrial zone “perfect” for his needs – both for the business and his personal needs. He makes the patterns for his original creations and does fittings himself on the first floor and lives on the second floor.
After graduating from FIT, he worked in a dress shop in Oceanside for several years, developed his own clientele and then worked out of his apartment in Floral Park prior to opening his first shop in New Hyde Park.
Genevieve Iaboni, one of several seamstresses who work for him now, also worked with him in Oceanside.
A New Hyde Park resident, she introduced Ramotar to the village that he found to be an ideal location for his business.
“When I first opened, I already had clients I had making dresses for in my apartment,” he said. “It was convenient.”
He said he likes being near Manhattan and Great Neck, where he said he has a large Jewish customer base.
Ramotar said he has maintained many regular customers over the years, and now makes dresses for subsequent generations of their families. He said he still has the first customer he met while at FIT, and has made her daughter’s wedding dress and her granddaughter’s sweet 16 dress.
The most difficult part of the business, he said, are the deadlines he sometimes faces, particularly in June, a peak season for weddings
“Sometimes I have to work non-stop for days,” Ramotar said.
He said he and his seamstresses turn out at least 10 dresses a month during the peak summer season, meticulously sewing beads and other adornments on them.
“Some dresses take two weeks’ time,” Ramotar said. “We work at our own pace.”
He said he enjoys interacting with his customers and continues to enjoy the work of creating high-fashion outfits for special occasions.
Nothing much has changed in the business over the years – except for the changing styles, which tend to be cyclical, he said.
“Fashion keeps revolving. Styles from the ‘30s are coming back now,” Ramotar said.
The second youngest of four sisters and five brothers, he still has family in the New York area, including an older brother.
When he’s not working, he said he enjoys relaxing on the upper floor of his house listening to classical music, particularly Mozart and Beethoven. He said he also enjoys visiting friends in Manhattan and travels whenever he can find the time.
“I get away for weekends. I love to travel,” Ramotar said.
