Courtney Tharpe returned to St. Louis from New York in 2011 to begin treatment for alcoholism and an eating disorder. “I felt that my addictions had taken my fashion career from me,” she says. By 25, she’d graduated from the Parsons School of Design, interned at J. Mendel, and worked for Lucky Brand. But it took moving back to her hometown, and years of rebuilding, before she felt comfortable wading back into the fashion world.
Eight years later, Tharpe has returned to the business she loves with the launch of Tharpe, a clothing line of elevated basics and eclectic separates made from deadstock fabrics and cut in feminine, body-shaping silhouettes. Her signature accessories include petal collars and turtleneck dickies.
Each day, the designer begins her mornings around 7 a.m., brewing coffee in her charming kitchen and centering herself before starting work. Twice a week, she meditates for 10 minutes, a tool she’s used throughout her eight years of sobriety, she says: “If I start the day with a meditation and a little cleaning, I get so much more done than if I just jump into it.”
Tharpe likes to work on her laptop at a square white table in her University City home’s former sunroom, which she’s renovated into a whitewashed studio. Projects from two side businesses—freelance graphic design and a tablescape company she co-founded with her sister—are in varying phases of completion around her. A seamstress’ torso mannequin is pinned with cuts used in the design of Tharpe’s The [Not-So-Basic] Basic Tank.
The designer learned to sew from her mother, and was soon making pillows for grade school friends and a glamorous ’30s-inspired nightgown that she didn’t dare wear outside her bedroom.
“She really marched to the beat of her own drum,” says older sister Libby Tharpe. “She was always creating, designing, and ripping up clothes. Anytime I see her wearing something, I take note. Without fail, in a year, maybe two, it’s all over the magazines. She’s been doing that since she was in high school.”
Sustainability and ethical sourcing are at the heart of the Tharpe brand, but, Tharpe says, “It’s impossible to be 100 percent sustainable. You have to pick what platforms are most important to you. For me, that’s deadstock fabric, creating a circular economy, raising awareness, and fair labor practices.”
She recently completed a batch of 85 tank tops with small-batch manufacturer The Collective Thread, which trains and employs refugee and immigrant women in St. Louis. It’s her second run, after the initial run of 60 sold out in less than two months. This spring, she’s planning to put a few more designs, including wrap skirts, into production. And an upcoming project may be her most personal yet: Tharpe is designing her wedding dress, in the style of a contemporary Victorian ballgown, for her spring nuptials.
“I think it’s important to have fun with fashion,” the designer says, reflecting on her career. “People tend to use fashion as a way to hide, but I want my clothes to be an outlet for some frivolity.”
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