about darling

for melissa a. camarillo, a.k.a. darling dearie,* artistic and creative pursuits literally run throughout her extensive family tree: her italian-american great-grandfather was a patent-holding inventor, her father a writer, painter and pianist, while her equally artistic mother an accomplished seamstress. so it’s not a big surprise that a love affair with sewing and designing began earnestly in grade school.

through the subsequent decades that followed, her personally designed and sewn wardrobe and her distinct style of dressing, invariably garnered attention and compliments from colleagues and strangers alike.

spring of 2015 she found herself at a career crossroads and seized the opportunity to finally pursue what she loved full-time: designing, sewing and assembling vintage & discontinued fabrics in artful combinations (“mash-ups” and “oddments”, as she calls them) while remaining true to her sustainable, slow-fashioned vision and created by her own hands.

summer of 2020 the dearie family relocated from portland to fountain hills, happily integrating themselves into their new community. fearless kitty welcomed the family as regular volunteers and they in turn welcomed adopted rescue cat oscar. volunteering with fashion club at the middle school offered an introduction to the arizona make-it-with-wool competition, winning darling dearie placements during the two years she participated.

seven years as a digitally native brand offered the opportunity to trial a darling dearie pink tented pop up shop beginning late fall 2022 at a monthly local outdoor market. subsequently, darling dearie, under her distinctive and pretty pink tent, has participated in the cave creek 2023 winter festival, the fountain hills art league 2024 “tour d’ artistes” annual event, and the fountain hills chamber fountain hills day in 2023 and 2024.

besides textile artistry, melissa has enjoyed exploring other artistic mediums including acrylic paint, mixed-media, collage, and making petite sculptural figurines for jewelry and canvas.

when not creating, she and mr. dearie enjoy watching the sonoran desert wildlife, listening to their extensive vinyl record collection, and much to their shared chagrin, relenting to oscar’s ever-constant pestering for more food.

apropos of nothing, darling dearie won an award in 2022 from lux magazine.

*darling dearie is both a designer and an alter ego for the actual designer, melissa a. camarillo.

melissa a. camarillo is the designer, artist, creator and fabricator of all things relating to the eponymous brand.

you may learn more about the origin and evolution of this moniker, her hypothetical twin, by clicking here.