
Meet Brooklyn Designer And Mama Suzanne Rae
Written by Katie Hintz-Zambrano
Photography by Heather Moore
It’s always the best feeling when you realize that cool, indie designer you’ve been following online is also a mother. Which is precisely what happened with Suzanne Rae, a Brooklyn-based, minimalist-leaning designer who creates with feminism, socio-economics, and art history in mind. Along with juggling the demands of running an emerging fashion brand, Rae also plays mama to 4-year-old Ella Ophelia, who just so happens to star alongside her mom in the latest, just-released Suzanne Rae lookbook—an adorable must-see you can flip through here. Want to get to know this one-to-watch designer? Take a tour of Rae’s home (which she dubs “neo-Filipino”), and read her thoughts on design, motherhood, and more.
- "We live in Cypress Hills in Brooklyn. Not many people are familiar with it and often ask if that's where the band is from, but they are actually from California. Ha. It's the neighborhood just east of Bushwick. It's very residential, and not very gentrified. Though I feel that's changing, because our local grocery has organic foods and the bodega across the street sells kombucha!"
- "The home was built in 1920 and we didn't do much to it aside from rip up the carpet. It feels like a little doll house filled with furniture, paintings, antiques from the Philippines passed on from my parents and grandparents, mixed in with a few mid-century modern pieces and art from my friends and daughter, lots of books and various random nicknacks. I'm not sure what that's called—neo-Filipino?"
- "Ella has a play room upstairs on the second floor between the bedrooms. There are some toys in the kitchen, but not in the living room or dining room, aside from the little rocking chair and old little toy piano that used to be mine, which I think are cute in the space aesthetically speaking. But this isn't to say that Ella's toys don't end up all over the living room. She loves to sleep on the cane bench, which I don't really understand because it's not so comfy, and do tea parties on the coffee table with her dolls." Ella wears a Tinkerbell costume and shoes.
- "Keep it personal."
- "The workspace is all downstairs in the bottom level. So, I don't have to see it if I don't want to. I do love the convenience of going there when I need to, whether it's at 1 a.m. or 5 a.m. If I'm doing computer stuff or light sketching, I usually sit in the dining room. It's closer to the kitchen."
- "It's really simple. We have a low bed, a rocking chair, and an antique armoire. A painting of Ella rests on the floor. I love that it's not filled with much furniture, but we've got lots of books around, and I really need a better system for storing clothes. My favorite piece in it is the antique armoire for sure. It was our first piece of furniture we invested in after we got married."
- "That's a hard question because there's so much! I'm so fascinated by watching this little thing grow into her own personality. Ella's really sweet but also very funny! I get so amused when she does something new and funny that I had never seen before. For example, the other night at dinner she started acting like an old person, pretending to hold a cane, bending over and speaking with her interpretation of an old lady voice. It was so random and goofy. She was even cracking herself up!"
- "Constantly making sure she's safe and out of harm's way."
- "I grew up in a very loving household with two working parents and a live-in, full-time nanny who was like a third parent for me and my two younger brothers. We are all very close and still are."
- "My parents were big on respect for all people, but especially for your elders. Lots of 'Yes, Mom' or 'Yes, Dad,' no rolling of the eyes, and when they came home I had to get up from what I was doing to go greet them straight away. I find that I do the same with Ella."
- "Yes, I do! I want her to eat Filipino food, lots of rice, and know about the country and the culture, and when people ask her if she is Filipino, she says 'Yes I am!'"
- "Breastfeed for as long as you can. It's not great for the boobs, but it's so great for the baby—for their health and also for their emotional development and stability."
- "I've always felt that as a mother I need to be compassionate, fair, empathetic, communicative, and happy, so that Ella could learn to be those things, too. Now, with the political climate, I feel I have to be even more aware and teach Ella to be more aware of being these things, particularly with gender issues at age 4. She's at a weird stage where she defines things as girl things and boy things, which I have been teaching her is totally inaccurate and socially constructed. She's starting to get it though, and it makes me proud."
- "I loved being pregnant. Everyone was so nice to me! And even though I gained close to 60 pounds, I felt beautiful."
- "I love that I can relate so easily with her, and we get to do things together and indulge in things that we both like, like going to high tea or watching the ballet. We do so much together because we have so much in common!"
- "My mom and my dad."
- "It's totally doable. It feels pretty healthy and brings out the productive and efficient wonder woman in all of us."
- "Nothing planned. For now."
- "We actually just got rid of her crib, which was in her playroom. Now, the former guest room is her room. We're not done decorating it, although we moved some little pieces of art and Chinese umbrellas in to decorate it temporarily. Nothing is on the walls yet because we plan on putting up wallpaper with matching curtains. Her request is that it looks like she's in the middle of a garden."
- "I love this white cake bust sculpture that sits in between two little sweet paintings of the Tuscan hills that we bought on the street in San Gimignano together. On the head of the bust is a pink Chinese umbrella that sits on her head like a dramatic hat."
- "Ella is her first name. My husband chose it, but I like that it also means 'she' in Spanish. Her middle name is Ophelia, after my paternal grandmother." Suzanne wears Suzanne Rae. Ella wears a nightgown from an outdoor market in Forte dei Marmi, Italy.
- "Tea parties, ballet, and Grease 2."
- "The diversity."
- "I always dream of living elsewhere, but I could never fully leave NY. I'd be out of context. I wouldn't feel like myself."
- "I was born in the Philippines, was raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersery, I went to Bryn Mawr College for an undergraduate education where I majored in economics and minored in dance and art history. I then worked for Holly Solomon Gallery in New York, after which I eventually went to Parsons to study fashion design. During and after Parsons, I worked with Costume National (first in the store and then in the design office in Milan) and then with Morgane Le Fay."
- "I've always been a hard worker, but after having a kid, I realize that work is not my life. I mean, it totally is given the nature of the business, but Ella is my life and what I do, I do for her."
- "Short. It was a week."
- "Yes! I'm so much more focused, efficient, and productive. I have my priorities lined up correctly now."
- "I like that I can create whatever I want, which is not only the perspective and the clothes, but also my own schedule! The downside is that I'm always working—even when I'm on vacation."
- "I knew 3 weeks into studying design at Parsons that I'd eventually want to have my own line where I could combine my interest of feminism, socio-economics, and art history to offer a unique perspective on fashion."
- "Obviously, I want to empower and liberate, but I also want to open up a dialog that I may not have an answer for, but if I provoke thought and action, then I feel like it's a step towards progress."
- "People are multi-dimensional, and we wake up feeling one way one morning and one way another, and that is beautiful. We can be whoever we want to be and there is nothing wrong with that. So, I posed that question playfully in part asking 'What do you want to wear today?' and also 'Who are you and what is important to you? What do you want to do?'"
- "I just birthed another collection and am in the midst of fashion week, so I'm on the hunt for the next thing. But it's a really hectic time—juggling fashion week and the start of a new school year—so I'm not sure what I'm inspired by at the moment aside from vintage-style paper lanterns that I'm collecting for Ella's birthday party 2 weekends from now. It's going to be an Alice in Wonderland-themed tea party with croquet and the limbo as the activities for the kids."
- "I try not to feel sorry for myself, which is so easy to do sometimes. Instead, I'm thinking about how grateful I am to be doing what I'm doing, and how I must stay focused and work hard so as not to miss any opportunities. My success is also my family's success."
- "I feel like I go between loose and baggy t-shirts and pants or skirts to lady-like, with tucked in shirts and high-waisted trousers. With the former I feel like my chill Brooklyn self, with the latter I feel like a proper put-together mom. I think I'm equal parts the two, so it really depends on how I'm feeling and how much time I have to get myself together in the morning." Suzanne wears Suzanne Rae. Ella wears a hand-me-down dress from her cousins.
- "High-waisted trousers, t-shirts, loafers, a cardigan, and an oversized coat."
- "I love and appreciate so many in each of their unique ways. It's a hard question for me. But who comes to mind now is Miuccia Prada and Christophe Lemaire."
- "These days it's online, for the sake of convenience. I really rarely shop, though. I love shopping, but I can't remember the last time I just spent a day shopping around New York."
- "I'm really into washing my face in the morning with a gentle oil-based cleanser, because I wash my face the night before, too, and I just feel like I don't want to strip it of any moisture that it needs. So, every morning I cleanse with oil, spray a toner, put on my eye cream, and then moisturize and put sunblock. At night, I wash my face with either the oil or another gentle cleanser (if I feel grimy or oily) and then I put on my retinoid cream to fight wrinkles, put on my eye cream again, and then my evening moisturizer which is Creme de la Mer."
- "Ugh. I go through phases of mediation, ballet class, and yoga, but I'm not very consistent."
- "My husband and daughter go to sleep early, so my 'me time' is usually before bed. I will read, watch an old movie, or look at real estate online. Ha! I'm constantly dreaming about a country home upstate or a villa in Italy." For more on Suzanne, her line, and her family, check out her Instagram feed.
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