Last month, with the help of her mother, Laurel Marx, Daniela put on her first fashion show, attended by family, friends and two Teen Vogue fashion editors. The 28 outfits, which included sporty halter tops, satiny gowns and sophisticated, waist-clinching shorts. were all sewn by Daniela, often late at night.

“When she was in 7th grade, she started asking for a sewing machine,” said Marx, a graphic designer whose own sewing ability is limited to re-attaching buttons.

When she was 13, the long-awaited sewing machine arrived for Christmas.
“It was awesome,” Daniela said. “I wanted to use it right away.” A seamstress gave her one quick lesson. The rest she learned on her own.

A few months later, she received another gift from the owner of a clothing store in her building: a dress form. “When my Mom told me, I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was so exciting.”

In her early years as a designer, Daniela favored large plastic jewelry circa 1960 and flapper dresses of the ’20s. But by the time she was 14, she had found her true muse: the ’30s and ’40s.

Inspired by her grandmother’s old photo albums, she began designing oversize sun hats and dresses made with satiny fabrics. “There’s a lot of glamour in satin,” she said. “It reminds me of dresses that Ginger Rogers wore in movies with Fred Astaire.”

The idea for a fashion show came last year. “It was before my friends went to camp and we had time on our hands,” Daniela said. “Someone said, ‘You should have a fashion show,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, and you could be the models.’’’ It took her six months to design and sew all the clothes.

The show was held in the Soho loft of one of her mother’s friends, an artist. Easels, canvasses and tables covered with paint brushes were pushed aside to make room for a catwalk.