Black women dominate any space they enter and Andrea Pitter is doing just that!
Pitter continues to be a force and inspiration in the fashion industry – a space that has been known for its lack of inclusivity, especially when it comes to representation for the independent Black design entrepreneur. Over the past 10 years, she has been on a mission to take engaged women and transform them into breathtaking brides through her Pantora Bridal collection of stunning bridal ensembles. Now, she’s taking the world by storm as the winner of season two of Amazon Prime’s “Making The Cut.”
After a successful first season, the hit series took on the star-studded city of LA with 10 talented entrepreneurs and designers from around the world. Hosted by Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, joined by world-famous supermodel and fashion pop icon, Winnie Harlow, along with Moschino Creative Director Jeremy Scott as guest judges, Pitter walked away with the winning title and a chance to take her business to the next level. She secured the winning prize of $1 million to invest into her business along with the chance to create an exclusive line that will be available for purchase in Amazon Fashion’s store. She will also receive a mentorship with Amazon Fashion.
Just on the heels of her win, Pitter connected with BAUCE to speak to the excitement surrounding her win of “Making The Cut,” her love for fashion, and what’s next for her brand, Pantora Bridal.
Congratulations on your win! We can only imagine how excited you must be about coming in as the top contestant on “Making the Cut,” tell us what ran through your mind when you found out that you had even been selected to participate in this season?
Andrea Pitter: The first thing that came to mind besides excitement was, ‘Oh I need to get my kid prepared for me to leave,’ That was actually the first thing that came to my mind like, ‘Hold on, you’re leaving, and hopefully you’re not coming back right away.’ I needed to get my kid ready and adjusted for me to go away.
Wow, that just speaks to the type of mother you are! Luckily you did not have to come back right away, in fact, you stayed until you hit that top spot. Prior to the show, you had already begun to make the move to expand your brand, can you walk us through the inspiration behind that?
Andrea Pitter: I created my brand when I was 12 years old. And so I feel like I’ve been doing the same thing for 20 years and so I wanted to kind of break the monotony of it. I don’t think that I would say that I felt like I was at a standstill, but I had a moment where I was just like, ‘You have to figure out what you’re doing next.’
I gave myself some space during the beginning of the pandemic, to really think about the state of my business and what it was that I wanted to do,, and “Making The Cut ” was this nice intermission to kind of just really figure things out in a different way.
Joining the show gave me the opportunity to kind of stop and think about the way that I’ve been doing all the things before and figure out how to elevate them.
What a perfect way to regroup and really figure out the direction you wanted to push your brand toward! What would you say you cherished the most from this experience?
Andrea Pitter: I think I have a few favorite moments from the show! One would be my friendship with Gary blossoming. We’re really, really good friends now and we have the show to thank for that. I don’t think I would have wanted to do that journey with anyone else and I think being able to go back and watch how our friendship blossomed on the show is something I really cherish from this experience.
We love to hear that you were able to walk away with deeper connections from the show! Now that you’re the winner of “Making The Cut,” and you’ve gained this newfound experience, what’s next for your brand, Pantora Bridal?
Andrea Pitter: Next it’s all about making sure that we expand at a decent rate. Opening this store is my priority right now, the ready-to-wear store, and up next will be the bridal store, which will be right next door.
Ultimately, growing at a nice and comfortable pace and using our resources really wisely is what’s next for us. Super excited to watch it all unfold.
