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Wheeling Native Gabby Stone Designs Dress For Miss USA Contestant

WHEELING -- A dress designed and made by Wheeling native Gabby Stone is being featured at the Miss USA pageant.

Stone, 24, a 2020 graduate of Wheeling Park High School, was commissioned to create a dress for Miss Delaware Julia Hatoum for the competition held this past week in Miami.

After being contacted about the job, she had four weeks to design and create the science-themed dress.

Stone, who graduated from West Virginia University where she studied fashion design, said she was interested in being creative at a young age.

"I just really like to create and I've always had the drive to be creative," she said. "It seems so stupid but there was this toy in the early 2000s where you could swap out the hair and the tops, and during every indoor recess I would play with that toy and make all kinds of creations."

Then, at about 10 years old, Stone started hand-sewing pillows and curtains. When Stone entered her teenage years, she began doodling, which were actually her first designs. Her first garment creation came while she interned at Stages in downtown Wheeling one summer at age 16. She said Stages' owner Gael Fincham was her first sewing mentor.

"My first dress was a flapper - hot pink with black fringe," she said.

Stone didn't have many other designers influencing her at first.

"When I was younger I was just creating to create. What I thought was beautiful is what I created," she said. "On my first trip to New York City I learned about Alexander McQueen. Before then I hadn't paid much attention to designers; I designed for the sake of it."

Stone said, at first, she was not sure if she wanted to attend college to study fashion design because there are many successful designers who do not.

"The reason I wanted to was to refine my skills more. There is a right way and wrong way to do things. I also wanted to make connections. Fashion design is huge in connections; it's all about who you know. The biggest driver for me was the connections," she said.

And it was her connection to WVU and its fashion shows that helped Stone land her Miss USA dress-making job. A representative of the B2B modeling agency that participates in the WVU shows contacted her. Another designer had been hired to make a dress but dropped out at the last minute. This led to Stone being offered the job. The catch was that she only had four weeks to get it done.

"By the time I got the materials, I only had three weeks," she said.

Stone said the dress and its accompanying rings were completely handmade. The boots were purchased but the rhinestones had to be applied to them.

"During this I also have a full-time job as a secretary in Texas," she said, noting she is currently living there with her girlfriend of five years, Ryann Phillips, who is a member of the USA Olympic trap team and training in San Angelo, Texas.

Phillips helped her apply the thousands of beads to the dress.

Stone has been watching the Miss USA pageant on the Clean Beauty Network. While she's watched her designs cross stages before, she noted it was exciting to see this new dress in action.

"It was awesome. I'm super pleased with what I saw. I was so excited to see it walk," she said. "Julia Hatoum is a chemical engineer. She graduated from the University of Delaware and wanted to bring science into the program ... It's a great mix of both worlds."

While at WVU, Stone was challenged to create various designs that were featured during runway shows there. As a senior, she designed a dress for the Mrs. America pageant. She has also designed pieces for friends and family, including a dress for her mother Lisa Stone to wear during her 25th wedding anniversary vow renewal ceremony with her husband, Jacob Stone, Gabby Stone's father.

Stone said her future plans as a fashion designer are to one day own her own brand. She would like the opportunity to interact with the people she is designing for and make items for the everyday woman -- pieces for special events such as weddings and baby showers.

In addition to her mother's dress, she often designs and makes dresses for Phillips to wear.

If someone is interested in having a special piece made by Stone, they can contact her via her Instagram page at Gabby_Stones_Designs.

Stone's parents, Lisa and Jacob Stone, still live in Wheeling. Lisa is an occupational therapist and Jacob teaches Spanish. Her sister, Josie Stone, is a senior at Bethany College.