Note to aspiring fashion designers: there is no one way to preparing for a career in fashion design, and that is not a bad path to follow. Just ask the highly talented custom-clothing designer and businesswoman Sarah Van Aken, creator of the Philly-based women’s contemporary ready-to-wear line SA VA.

Sarah didn’t always wish to pursue a career as a fashion designer. With an initial (and sustaining) love for visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Van Aken worked in merchandising in New York after college at the University of Delaware, while also creating her own art first for a few months. Suffice to say her designing career started within the world of restaurant uniforms, creating them for Alfred Portale, esteemed chef and owner of the highly celebrated Gotham Bar and Grill in NYC. Van Aken also managed a Marathon Grill and then left to put in part-time work in real estate and bartending while ideas for her fashion line began to blossom. Soon enough, she got her real estate license and developed a concrete business plan, while her business partner gave her seed money to start SA VA. 

Professed as “not making clothing for clothing’s sake," Van Aken is part of a group of clothing designers who choose to enmesh their love of fashion with their dedication to a socially sustainable economy and environmental awareness. Compostable shopping bags, helping women transition into the workforce, and designing into her customers’ lives are key ingredients to what makes SA VA such a magnetic and successful clothing line. Van Aken’s design choices are inspired by what her customers buy and want from her store (which also houses her design studio) at 1700 Sansom Street in Philly. Pulling and mixing from a lot of designs, Van Aken always keeps the Philadelphian woman in mind, a woman who, as Van Aken states, is grounded in Philly, but remains very cultured. Practical meets exotic, as observed in her boutique and workspace, where there are neutral colors mixed with hits of v  ibrant olives and lush purple. While this season’s theme throughout her line represents the “Native Gypsy," there still remains a distinct Americana aspect. Along with Americans also lies very rich Thai fabrics, which new customers can see in the jersey and woven dresses, prints, and scarves expertly displayed on the ground floor of her flagship store.  

It’s not the easiest task by any means to create one’s own fashion line, but Van Aken makes it all look both effortless and fantastic, and it’s very apparent that her background in both art and business, restaurant and real estate have served her well while proves as a beacon of fashion in Philadelphia. Young designers today can really take good notes from Sarah’s global- and community-conscious designs, business model, and work ethic. Her advice for young designers today is to work for someone else first, and she offers internships through local universities. Having launched her denim line recently with hopes to launch an organic yoga line and another fashion show lined up in April, Van Aken hopes to expand and build her brand, and remains an advocate of entrepreneurship. She is not looking to be the next Alexander McQueen, and yet there can only be one Alexander McQueen. There is, nonetheless, only one Sarah Van Aken of which the present and future remains bright. Philadelphia can only be but grateful to have such a talent.

To learn more about SA VA, please visit the website or blog.