The lights and glamour of Voltage Spring 2009 are over and people have settled back into their normal routine. While baristas steam milk and admins file paper, the life of a fashion designer also goes on. No they aren’t hung up in a closet until the next MNFashionWeek, they thrive and struggle as entrepreneurs in what can be called the local fashion industry.

I met up with Carmichael Claith on a dazzling sunny day overlooking Loring Park to talk pointers and how is anyone going to make it. I floated in my head a list of items that fashion designers would need to accomplish to go from raw cloth to profit. Then to heck with that, it all begins with a good smile. Claith was very approachable and excited to talk even after her long day. I immediately felt like she knew her skills well. Mark one for business sharp.

The claith in her designer name is Scottish for cloth. Drawing on her heritage, she visits Scotland often, and falling in love with the hunting and plaid, knew it was right for her perspective. Some designers might joke about her being a one-note Scot but what works, works. Exploring details and minutiae within her focus, Claith has built a clannish following.

Her Voltage line, “Scottish Fiction” takes after Scottish rock band Idlewild and their song “In Remote Part” which is the ending to their 2004 The Remote Part album. The band had asked poet laureate Edwin Morgan to write a poem as an ending to the song. He titled it “Scottish Fiction” and spared no shots at the British. Excerpt:

“It isn’t in the castle, it isn’t in the mist
It’s a calling of the waters as they break to show
The new black death with reactors aglow
Do you think your security can keep you in purity?
You will not shake us off
Above or below”

Basically the album was a homage to Scottish identity which unfortunately parlays the continued struggle for Scottishness. Though

So what did Claith do to express this intangible feeling on Voltage’s runway? Well as we observed she put a knee-length gun holster on a plaided skirt and one model with a deliciously yellow chiffon high-neck blouse whipped out her binoculars with an effortless Martha Stewart poise. Cake in 15‘s Cas didn’t seem to like the resurrection of the holsters which did appear last year. However, The Midwasteland‘s Amy Overman did like the “mixture of soft, tufted fabrics with stiff tweeds.” While Claith didn’t win the night with the emotional outfits, she energetically praised Calpurnia Peach for their collection’s strong sense.

From sewing machine to runway, I sought to know more about the entire process but first I needed to know the foundation. The roots of Carmichael Claith lie in the St. Catherine apparel design department with fellow designers Jenny Carle and Maritza Ramirez who have been encouraging her. I imagine their secret meetings to take over the fashion world started there. So many recent St. Kate F.A. alums have solidly hit the growing demand for locally produced clothing, and might I add with professional skill.

Claith took a year after graduation to save up enough cash to buy all the equipment she needed. Since then its been a solid run starting with SCENEaSOTA during Fall Fashion Weekend 2008 and then entering her line for sale at Cliche on Lyndale. Her next show is the Cliche 5th Anniversary show on June 11 at Plaza Verde on Lake Street. She will feature a new collection of Baroque and English inspired pieces. Cliche celebrates yearly and rightly so, the endeavor of a shop owner is a future story to come. Our friends at Ignite Models are sure to make it fierce.

I asked Claith what it was like to balance a day job and an aspiring fashion career. Certainly she could have gone the corporate route, though she is not opposed to it. To me, it seems evident Ms. Carmichael had a solid vision of her fashion goals coming out of college which doesn’t have much breathing room under that atmosphere. She likes the boutique market and hopes to go more high-end. I recommended the shops of 50th and France. We chatted about Nordstrom, Macy’s, and New York, but dreams are left to chance, for now, do your best.

“We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.”
- Voltaire