Claire Thomas-Morgan asks her two giggling children and a neighborhood friend to play quietly before turning to walk down the hallway to the master bedroom. There, just off the back of the room, is her studio. With a soft click she closes the French doors. Silence. It’s a different world in here.“I lock the doors if I have to,” she says, laughing.
Inspired by the garments she was making for daughter Lyra, now 7, Thomas-Morgan started a line of children’s clothes, Vivi Design Studio, in 2014. Six years later, she’s outgrowing the studio space. The couple built the addition in 2016, when operating from the basement no longer seemed like a good idea, Thomas-Morgan recalls: “I would drop pins or something—the kids play down there—and I’d think, ‘No!’”
The day we meet the designer has spent most of her time attending to her children, Lyra and Ellis, 3. She needs about an hour to catch up on email, check orders, and tend to bookkeeping, she says. Life is more hectic in the spring and fall, when on top of running her clothing company, Thomas-Morgan also teaches a fashion design class at her alma mater, Washington University. But summer days like today are meant for sneaking away from the studio to do fun things around town with the kids. Tonight, once they’ve gone to bed, she’ll make up the time. She gestures to the rack next to her. It holds her fall collection, inspired by her reverence for Renaissance arts, religion, and literature.
If you need a visual cue, think 2018 Met Gala, which had the theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Church.” “It was around that time that I was designing it,” says Thomas-Morgan. She grabs a halo-like headband, similar to the headpiece actress Blake Lively wore to the event. “It’s made out of zip ties and is spray-painted. I thought, ‘I can do that!’” Then she began learning more about Joan of Arc and powerful fictional characters such as Ofelia from Pan’s Labyrinth. Her goal was to create clothing based on good stories and “young brave girls who aren’t your traditional princess,” she says.
Named after her stylish grandmother Vivian, Vivi is an ode to the clothes a younger Thomas-Morgan would have wanted. The style is classic but with a twist. “Something fun, artistic, and quirky,” she says. “We’re not T-shirt and leggings.”
Locally, Thomas-Morgan sells her line at Union Studio and Lass & Laddie, but she’s looking for more opportunities to show her work.
And, of course, she’s always looking to keep her own kids well-dressed. “I pick my battles,” she says.
