Alise Marie in her studio.

Alise Marie lives in two vastly different worlds. In one respect, she is the girl next door—down-to-earth, like your best friend's cool older sister—albeit in a crushed-velvet dress and knee-high boots. Marie enjoys the relaxed atmosphere that living in the Catskills affords her. She says she needs that balance because her other world revolves around models, PR firms, overcaffeinated fashionistas, and the hyperkinetic couture scenes of New York, Los Angeles, and Paris.

Having debuted her first women's wear collection barely a year ago, Marie is still very much the new kid on the block in the New York fashion scene.

A New Jersey native who lives in Saugerties, creates in Woodstock, and does business in New York, Marie spent years working as an interior designer before deciding she had finally had enough. "I loved the work but I didn't like the clientele," she recalls. "Design work is very much about getting people to see your vision, your idea—it's a lot of work and it can be very frustrating." Though largely self-taught, Marie says that women in her family have been designing clothing patterns for generations. So, about 18 months ago, she decided to quit her job and go for it. "I just said, 'This is what I want to do. I'm gonna create a line and if you like it you can buy it, if you don't like it you don't have to.'"

Inspired by several literary heroines and silent films, Marie's first "capsule" collection was described by the fashion magazine Lucire as "romantic, sophisticated, yet with an element of mystery." "I draw a lot from books," Marie explains, "people like Collette, Anais Nin—when I read I like to visualize what everyone is wearing; it's all very textual, very sensual." Her second collection, for fall 2005, had a distinctly "classic" theatrical and literary sensibility: silk chiffon blouses, charmeuse gowns, herringbone coats, and velvet wraps. Think Jean Harlow or Lillian Gish and you'll get the idea. Still, while Marie's designs may have a vintage flavor, there is an unmistakably modern character about the final product, an edginess that radiates from a real grrrl-power aesthetic. Marie's designs are glamorous, but wearable. "I like to think about times when women were really powerful. Not like some fantasy babe, but a real woman who is here, taking up space, and you have to recognize her."

Marie's spring 2006 line was not only her first runway show, but also the first in what she hopes will be a series of "elemental" collections. This year's theme is water. "I just had water on the brain—both the good and the bad," she recalls. "It was totally female and lunar and it had a destruction/creation dichotomy."

A Model with coral-colored beaded octopus dress by Alise Marie at the Spring 2006 Runway Show in Manhattan.

Composed of over 20 unique outfits, spring '06 was inspired by goddesses and queens, mermaids and sea sirens. "I see the woman I design for as an ancient queen," she explains. "This is how she presents herself to the 21st-century world around her. These are the clothes she would wear." Marie's latest outfits incorporate lots of shimmering, draping silks and linens in twilight tones punctuated by moonstone and serpentine jewelry.

Alise Marie selecting accessories for a model during the show.

Critical response to the runway show was positive, with one buyer even comparing Marie with the likes of Chanel. Still, fashion is a fickle trade, with actual sales often dependent on the media buzz surrounding a designer rather then the originality of the designs. The process wasn't helped by the fact that the firm handling Marie's PR folded only two days after her show. "Of course they knew," she says, "they just didn't tell me, so there was no follow-up, no editorial appointments. It's been a learning process since day one."

Marie fully admits that the life of a designer can seem completely foreign to her at times. Living outside of New York City provides her with a sense of balance, a way to avoid getting caught up in the hype. "It gets crazy because the pressures are so big...at the same time, we're not finding a cure for AIDS, we are making frigging dresses, you know? I am really glad that I am doing this at this point in my life because if I were younger it would be easy to get caught up in the fabulousness of it all."

Fashion seasons come and go quickly with spring supplanted by summer and summer by fall/winter. Furthermore, the designs need to be ready well in advance of the actual calendar season. Despite the challenges, though, it seems that Marie is having quite a bit of fun pursuing her passion. Assisted by a strong work ethic and sense of determination, in a remarkably short time she has already released two capsule collections and a spring line, and is just now putting the finishing touches on a holiday collection that will hit the market this coming summer. One wonders if she ever has time to worry about the future?

"The business end is what makes you second-guess what you are doing," she ruminates while stroking one of her twin black cats resting comfortably in her lap. Marie prefers to focus instead on the women who actually wear her clothes and the feedback they offer. "I listen to what women tell me, how the dress makes them feel. I see how they walk differently, more femme fatale."

A model wearing Alise Marie's green seaweed gown.

An Alise Marie dress is probably not something the average shopper would casually shell-out for; most of her designs sell for about $700 to $1,500, which is actually quite reasonable compared with the sums commanded by a Zach Posen, Stella McCartney, or Betsy Johnson dress. As far as what her holiday line will look like, Marie is holding her cards close to her chest. "I don't want to give it away, but I was feeling a very strong Marilyn vibe, very bombshelly, kind of vampy." Clearly, Marie doesn't downplay the sexuality and power of womanhood. "There is a female art of 'getting dressed' and it would be nice if we could take five minutes out of our lives to actually enjoy that. A lot of fashion has been about 'How do I get out the door quicker?' and I just feel like there is something lost in that."

Locally, Alise Marie sells her clothing at Sugar in Woodstock. Her spring 2006 line can be viewed at www.alisemarie.com.