Designer Feature- Claire Henry

 Meet Claire Henry, one of the designers contributing to the upcoming Sustainable Style Charity Gala, a new event featuring an exhibition and auction of sustainable, student-made fashion, accessories, and art.

Introduce yourself; name, age, year in uni, degree path, a few interests.

Claire Henry, 19, second year. Master of Arts in Sustainable Development and Film Studies. A few interests: UStA Water Polo, music playlist-making connoisseur, vanilla matcha lover, and an artist.

Tell me a little bit about your pieces; what they are, why you made them and how they reflect your personal style?

Handmade, originally designed earrings. I made these pieces because I am a very crafty person and have established a handmade jewelry business within the past year. I can use my creative and artistic skills to make jewelry pieces that people love to wear for their everyday to a special going out outfits. These pieces reflect my personal style because they are designs that have either many layers to it or a simplicity that isn’t common but can work with anything! I feel like I can categorize my weekly outfits based on a hue of color (I tend to gravitate towards greens), or layering my jewelry, clothing, and accessories to lead to a perfect, put together outfit. I think jewelry plays such an important part when it comes to fashion and styling as it can really add the extra flair one's outfit may have been missing. The personality in each piece really shines through when pieces like my earrings are worn by a variety of people.

Why did you decide to submit your pieces to the Charity Gala?

I decided to submit my earrings to the Charity Gala because I’m always looking for any group or society that wants to share their platform for small business owners such as myself, and I feel like my business goals,and morals align with the Sustainable Style Charity Gala's ideals.

3 designs of Claire's featured in the auction

What does sustainability mean to you and how is that reflected in your pieces?

Sustainability means many things to me. In terms of my pieces, I like to think of the environment when it comes to sustainability, and what better way of portraying that than mini planets and swirls, depicting the astonishing galaxy and planet we occupy today! I am also very into green hues and colors, so I knew I needed to implement a green pair of earrings which, again, correlates with the colors of nature and the earth's surrounding environments. And lastly, the stars are another new design made of shells and chains that I think can represent how sustainability is always constantly changing, and moving about hence why the shooting star, the employment of an idealistic dream may be compared to the dream that is a sustainable future.