Celebrities from Beyoncé to Billie Eilish are obsessed with this young designer's namesake brand

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At just 31, New York based designer, Mia Vesper, has already left an imprint on fashion thanks to her one-of-a-kind fabric rich creations. Vesper, who almost closed up shop during the pandemic, persevered despite setbacks, and today her celebrity clientele includes Beyoncé, Halsey and Billie Eilish — to name just a few.

Video Transcript

MIA VESPER: I like making clothes that when you wear them, people are like, how did you do that? How is that somehow resonating as really cool and not too much? But it's also something I've never seen before, a little bit on the edge of gauche, but it doesn't really cross that line. I really like to make beautiful things, but I do want them to be difficult-- difficult to swallow, a little bit rough, spiky, and weird.

My name is Mia Vesper. I'm a Brooklyn-based fashion designer. I make clothing out of new, vintage, and deadstock material.

- Mia, take one. Marker.

MIA VESPER: In 2017, I was out at a flea market with my mom, and I found my first vintage tapestry, and I wanted to make it into a piece of clothing. Eventually I realized this could be a real thing.

My collection is about casual but eccentric, sporty but a lot. I don't really want it to be a caricature or a costume. I just want it to be the best outfit you've ever worn but a day-to-day look.

It's not always the easiest wears, but it makes me really happy to see other cool girls cool girling.

I do use what are called Italian wedding blankets very often in my work.

I love this, like, flocked velvet. Clam likes it.

I also make a lot of my clothing out of plisse, which is a corrugated material that's flecked with actual metal. So that's why it sparkles so.

I call this fabric golden skunk, but most of my color names are named after something that lives and breathes. I'm a textiles-first designer. My prompt is usually find an awesome textile. Work from there. And that's something that was imbued in me from growing up with an antique-dealer mother who was also a textile designer. My mom and I got into fashion together sort of. So, you know, creating identity through dress was really important to both of us.

Right as I was launching my ready-to-wear brand, the pandemic was rearing its head, and I thought that it was probably time for me to throw in the towel. Let's just give it one last push before we call this quits.

And that led me into being a Jane of all trades. I had to build a website. I do most of my photography, copywriting, style my looks. I have a hand in everything, which makes me feel good.

GRACE WONG: Mia's actually the reason that I got into design. My name is Grace Wong, and I'm Mia Vesper's assistant.

I walked into a store, and I saw her dress. I remember looking at the piece and being like, wow. People can make things so unique, and I was like, maybe I should try that.

Just the way that the fabric looked in her pieces just make you feel very unique and special and beautiful.

MIA VESPER: Well, the truth is that my brand has always been really DIY, really grassroots and homegrown. And coming back to the goals I had when I started, which was to create good clothes that I feel good about, is I have the joie de vivre again. I understand my purpose.