Claire Needs
Claire is a Seattle-based writer, editor and public relations specialist. She currently works as a Staff Editor for architecture and design magazine ARCADE NW Publishing.
She earned her BA in Communications and Media, double-specialized in journalism and strategic communications, in June 2023 from Seattle University. During Fall 2022 Claire studied abroad at London-based arts university Central Saint Martins for fashion journalism.
Her writing focuses on fashion, music, art and digital landscapes, and the various ways they shape identity and form community.
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Needle Magazine
About Needle
Created to give local writers, graphic designers, photographers and stylists a place to utilize their skills and actualize their passions in a city that often doesn’t afford such opportunities, Needle Magazine captured Seattle fashion, music and arts happenings. Needle’s title posesses multiple meanings: evocative of Seattle’s most famous landmark the Space Needle, and representative of the tools used to create art covered by the magazine: a tattoo needle, sewing needle and the needle of a record player.
The team of 10 Seattle University students successfully published and sold print editions of the magazine in June 2022, with a print release and online sales.
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Select Writing
A Q&A with Sara Rabin
Claire Needs | May 31, 2022
Sara Rabin’s sketches prove high fashion is often at its best embracing playfulness and, at times, irony.
A Brooklyn-based artist creating digital illustrations for Marc Jacobs Heaven, Sandy Liang, American Vogue and Supreme, Rabin’s work is multifaceted, dreamy and possesses a whimsical sense of humor in her drawings of the mundane. Drawings of crumpled, wet UGGs are not fashionable and certainly aren’t art, or are they?
CN: How did you get your start collaborating with bigger names in the fashion industry like Supreme or Marc Jacobs? What is the most rewarding part of collaborating with these designers?
SR: It's hard to pinpoint an exact 'start' with either of these bigger companies. I spent a lot of time nurturing relationships outside of the work environment, something very typical for the art world. Living in NYC and working at a popular restaurant introduced me to a lot of the art/fashion community I would end up working with. And of course always making and sharing my art! On the internet and in real life.
CN: If you could give the little Margot figure for Sandy Liang a personality, what would it
be? Who is she? What inspired her design?
SR: Margot was very much Sandy's brain-child! Sandy had a distinct vision in mind and I helped bring her to life. She's got a little bit of Margot Tennenbaum in her (the hair). If Margot and I were friends in real life, I know she would be very loyal and give good advice. She would be fun to take psychedelic drugs with. She's inspired by a character from one of my favorite mangas I probably should NOT have read as a child, “Chobits”.
Sara’s character Margot, created for Sandy Liang:
CN: In your Print Magazine interview, you mention that your work is vulnerable in the sense that it’s not always “good” art. Do you feel that your vulnerability in posts has allowed for more relatability amongst viewers, and has this vulnerability allowed you to be more honest in the work you produce?
SR: I love this question. It actually didn’t occur to me before that YES, sharing bad art is probably what helped me gather a following of people who were intrigued by this shamelessnes. I don’t think about what I’m doing, I'm very impulsive but I bet you’re right.
CN: Aside from the materials you use, how does the creative process for Train Creep differ from the digital art you make for your main Instagram account?
SR: I use sports as a metaphor for my art styles. @traincreep is the immeasurable number of trial routines a gymnast does during training, @ssarabin is the main event. I cannot produce the more processed-based, thought-out works you see on my main page without the hundreds of live-sketches I’ve done over the years. To make those live sketches, I have to utilize scale, timing, stroke-variation, likeness, trained eye, indicator, personality; probably more. Those skills I practice over and over each time I draw live sketch. So it’s like working out and staying sharp. I transfer those honed skills into the grander-scale art pieces you see elsewhere in my practice. Another great question.
CN: Your personal art, featuring predominately drawn people often with comedic elements like crumpled UGGs, heavily reflects the human experience. Seeing that many pieces are indicative of meme culture and humor, how do you use elements of the human experience to tell a story through art, and what is your main point of inspiration for such pieces? What exactly do you enjoy about drawing people?
SR: I don’t think about these things. My way of experiencing the world is processed through my eyeballs and then put down on paper. The 'process' part typically involves something that makes me laugh. I see these people slopping around in mushy Uggs and I’m just like 'thats so stupid, I love it, I need to draw it'.
CN: In 3 words, how would you describe your personal fashion style?
SR: Off-duty lifeguard, designer, comfortable. Can you picture that? Lol
CN: Seeing that your work with brands like Supreme, Sandy Liang, and Marc Jacobs is so seamlessly blended into both your own aesthetic and the designers’, do you have a personal interest in/background knowledge of designer clothing? Was fashion the industry you initially wanted to work in?
SR: I moved to New York City because I wanted to work in fashion, absolutely. I came here as a 17-year-old and when I hit the two year mark, I got really depressed. More depressed than usual for me. One of the changes I made in my life to deal with this new sadness was to focus more on art and less on fashion. I’ve always loved fashion and I think my art reflects that. I feel like I’m living in the best of both worlds now ;).
CN: What are your goals within the fashion industry? Any designers you’d like to work with or future projects to look forward to?
SR: Yes I want to do work with Miu Miu and Gucci. I'm going to. I'm going to work with musicians, too. I'm going to make movie posters. I'm going to be commissioned for a mural and I'm going to turn it down because I’m too scared, and then change my mind when I’m ready. The world is my oyster. (I also would love to do more courtroom illustration but thats REALLY hard to plan. I don’t know if I want it that badly!). I’m going to keep making my own clothes too. I don’t like to plan. I’m down for whatever.
Science and Experimentation in Sustainable Fashion
Claire Needs | June 15, 2022
A small New York apartment is ample space for your own natural dye, textile and clothing design studio, or at least Anna Cain would argue that this is the case. A 22-year-old sustainable fashion designer and creative with a BFA in Integrated Design from Parsons, Cain seeks to change the trajectory of the way we consume, create and learn about fashion. In using materials like kombucha SCOBY leather and silk from her own silk worm farm (located in her bedroom), Cain creates sustainable clothing while simultaneously educating others through various digital platforms.
Cain in her studio, wearing her own naturally-dyed design.
Her website, sugarandslimebiodesign.com, elaborates on its unique title inspired by biodesign.
“The name Sugar and Slime reflects the gooey process of bio-fabricating bacterial cellulose, a leather-like material once dried, from a bath of sugar and tea.”
Cain’s inspiration begins at the molecular level, examining cell structures and bacteria, and recurring natural patterns. Cain emphasized the need for sustainable textile production.
“I’ve always been interested in fashion but I quickly learned how terrible the industry is at design school,” Cain said. “I felt that I didn’t want to be a part of the industry unless I’m working to reform it. I learned about biodesign at a design lab in Barcelona and was immediately entranced and excited by the healthy ways to make art and products.”
Despite having a formal education, Cain often turned to outside resources to grow her knowledge of sustainable fashion.
“I learned a lot outside of school by going to free lectures and events around the city, science workshops through Genspace (that costs money), watching Youtube videos, looking at biomaterial recipes on Materiom and reading books on natural dye,” Cain said. “There are a lot of great organizations promoting local production and a lot of talented designers with radical ideas. I would follow #biodesign and #biomaterials as a start to meet people and see emerging projects.”
Through school and her own accumulation of sustainable knowledge, Anna looked to items in her home to make or enhance her clothing.
“We are trained to throw anything old and rotting away in a plastic bag and to the landfill, when it can really be a resource and then the birthplace for new life,” Cain said. “When over 90% of our clothing is standardized with synthetic colors it's fun to make a completely contrasting look. Each natural dye piece is one of a kind and will continue to shift over time, that’s why many dyers call it “living color”!”
Cain has begun selling naturally dyed vintage garments on her website, reminiscent of her inspiration taken from art nouveau, floral patterns of the 70s, surrealism of the 20s and occult symbols and structures. Her apartment laboratory has also expanded to contain a mini silk worm farm. Cain commented on the silkworm process.
“I wish every fashion designer were made to consider the small beings that produce our goods. Silk is such an absurd material. It takes 3000 worms to make just one yard of silk, that’s like 1000 for a silk blouse. The fact that we can produce a material on this scale from the spit of insects is just so wild,” Cain said. “Raising them has been inspiring, 1 to witness an organism undergo metamorphosis and be guided by intuition to completely dissolve itself and emerge in a new form, and 2 to learn about the history of textiles and how we have harnessed nature (in good ways and bad) to suit our needs.”
Cain has taken her silk worm farm live on Tik Tok, @sugarandsliime, amassing over 26.3k followers for her informative videos. She enjoys showing others the untapped beauty lying in waste and inspiring them to upcycle their own clothes.
Driven by the educational aspect of biodesign, Cain has hosted natural dye workshops around New York, created a zine of color swatches, illustrations and recipes to make fabric dye from food scraps, and is pursuing a current project with a friend: Ecogenic Research Collective, a space for accessible biodesign information. @ecogencollective on Instagram will be hosting events and serves as an open source library.
Photos taken via Facetime by Preston Lomond