Bomb Designer You Should Know: Shan Latris Houndstooth as Worn by Claire Sulmers

We are always on the lookout for new designers! We are excited to introduce you to Shan Latris:

Shan Latris, writes, “I’m a southern girl from Tuscaloosa, Alabama where I graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in Apparel Design. Although I was always some sort of an artist dabbling in everything from painting to dance and theater, I come from a family of ministers and healthcare professionals. My family background, in addition to being from a little town in Alabama, definitely made me the odd ball. For me, it took a high level of bravery and faith to pursue a degree in fashion. Especially because at that time, it wasn’t so popular and accepted. It was seen as a “fantasy” career. The blessing was that my Mother was always supportive of that choice and allowed me the freedom to pursue it.”    

She continues, “I was inspired by Tina Knowles-Lawson to sketch designs around 6th grade. Being able to create in my own way without boundaries was heavily instilled by adulthood. When I finally learned to sew much later in life, I was excited to start servicing clients. However, as MANY designers have witnessed, everyone wanted me to create what they saw their favorite celebrity wear. I’d receive social media images they found of clothing, magazine covers, or even something they saw on Fashion Bomb Daily. It took all the fun out of it for me and my dreams began to feel like a dreadful job. Then I received the worst advice ever, “This is how the industry is now. You need to give up this idea of having your own label. No one will buy it because they want what they want. Just give the people what they want.” I assumed that was the right way now since I was a rookie in the industry and saw it done everywhere. I decided to just do what people asked for and started a website. I soon learned that, that was not the way to go and not something I had to accept. I was miserable because I was being controlled creatively by customers. So many designers have to deal with that starting out, but I decided I’d rather not be in the industry than to get stuck in that new way of doing things. So, I recently took my chances with launching Shan Latris with the Genesis colection in hopes that people would like what I had to offer. “

She continues, “My last collection was inspired by the places I’ve been or wanted to go and that lead me to connecting with people from those places. From that experience, I realized that there truly is no place like home. It made me value my southern roots and upbringing more. Therefore, I decided my next collection would be all about my home in the good ole’ south! With the definition of Genesis including words like the beginning, creation, and home, I knew it was meant to be the collection’s name.    “

“A lot of people have asked how I knew houndstooth print was going to be popular this fall season and the truth is that I didn’t. With my hometown and alma mater being the home of the Crimson Tide Football team, houndstooth is ALWAYS in demand because it represents our team. It just made perfect sense for a collection being inspired by my city to feature houndstooth and crimson color pieces. It just so happened that the print is a timeless and fashionable print! Otherwise I wouldn’t have used it LOL! .”

“[When Claire wore my line] the feedback was great! I didn’t realize the look was posted until people started saying they saw my work on Fashion Bomb Daily. In addition, my notifications were coming in every second. I gained over 200 new followers overnight with most being added within an hour of the post. I was happy that people liked my work enough to want to continue on the journey with me because I’ve worked myself into exhaustion (literally) to pursue fashion for nearly a decade.”

” Despite all the hard work and self-investing, I was never able to get the type of opportunities needed to help me grow. It was just never my moment until now. The engagement on the FBD and Claire Sulmers Instagram was also really good. It was helpful to have my work shared with so many opinionated people because it’s good research, honestly. Everyone seemed to love the look because it received over 10,400 likes on the @ClaireSulmers Instagram page alone. I’m super grateful for the opportunity to finally get to share my work with the world. I highly commend Fashion Bomb Daily for creating this opportunity for designers, especially brown girls like myself, to have a space on an amazing platform.”

It is our sincere pleasure!

Learn more and purchase any of the above pieces at ShanLatris.com.

What say you?