Fashion Designer Claire Sullivan Shares How She Landed Her Big Break

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Designer Claire Sullivan was born to work in fashion. "I basically came out of the womb ready to work in fashion," Sullivan said. After working as the co-creative director and designer of Vaquera, Sullivan made the leap to go out on her own and launch Miss Claire Sullivan. "It was really scary, actually. I was terrified," Sullivan said.

For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Sullivan shares what it was like making that leap, her dream client, and more. For excerpts from the conversation, keep scrolling.

I think we should just start from the beginning and figure out a little bit about how you fell in love with this industry, fashion in general, and how you got your start.

I basically came out of the womb ready to work in fashion. [I was a] very cliche, young kid. For me, it actually started with learning how to sew. My mom taught me how to sew when I was 7 years old, and she taught me how to make these little baby pillows. I just sat at the sewing machine and made 100 little pillows.

I grew up in Richmond, Virginia. My whole family is in the medical field. There was just something about the fantasy of it all that I was really attracted to. When I was in elementary school, I was googling fashion colleges and just could not stop dreaming about making clothes and wearing clothes.

In terms of the industry, I started with Vaquera, and that was really an incredible experience. I moved to New York right out of school and immediately started working with them. I was thinking about it the other day, and I was like, "I've almost never had a job in the industry outside of working for myself." … Of course, I've assisted, and I have interned, but I never had a 9-to-5 job. I think that's not necessarily by accident. It is a hard industry. If we don't carve out our own places for ourselves, we can get really wrapped up.

At what point did you realize it was time to move on and create your own label?

I left during COVID, and I think COVID was sort of a time where a lot of things came to a head, where you kind of see like, "Okay, is this the right thing? Is this not?" We decided that it was not the right thing. I didn't have a plan. I did not know what I was going to do at all. It was really scary, actually. I was terrified. I knew that I wanted to keep making clothes, and I knew that I wanted to continue working with people that I loved and eventually ended up doing this project with my friend, Tourmaline, where she asked me to style her for a video she was working on. When she gave me the brief, I was like, "You know what? I actually think that I should make you something custom." It just took off from there.

Is there anyone who you're dying to design something for who you haven't had the chance to work with yet?

Rihanna is number one for me. It's not a particular person, but I would love, love, love to do something for a ballet or for an opera. I think that would be a really beautiful moment.

Do you have any advice for people or any rituals that you do if you're not feeling in the flow and need to step away and reset?

I have an insane morning routine. I have a meditation practice, and I work out. I write a gratitude list. I think definitely taking a walk and getting out if I can move my body. I always think that's the answer. Being in nature is really important for me. I think it's just also giving myself grace. … As [an artist] and [designer]—I'll speak from my own experience—I tend to be very hard on myself if I'm not able to produce what I want. I just have to practice graciousness and remind myself that I am not a machine and that it's okay if I am not coming up with a million ideas a minute. There are other times where it flows, and it is not stopping. I think that writing and connecting with other people is really important as well.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.