“They have this picture of me on my first day of kindergarten and I am pissed. I am just like–I’m pigeon-toed now, but I was really pigeon-toed then–and there’s this little picture of me and I’m just standing there giving them this glare. And I was crying and they were like, you know, ‘Are you upset because we’re leaving? It’s going to be OK.’ And I said ‘NO. I’m the ONLY one here wearing knee socks.’”

Fast forward. When the elevator opens and Erin Beatty, 34 years and three days old, emerges, she’s lugging a large floral Céline tote and two orange Organic Avenue bags overflowing with collection samples: options to wear to her show two nights before. She has a giant Yves Salomon fur-lined parka over a khaki Suno coatdress hand-embroidered in India, and black snow boots to navigate the grey slush of post-blizzard midtown Manhattan. A fourth bag has flats to change into.
What she doesn’t have is a set of keys. As she rummages through her mountains of stuff, she runs through a list of people she could have lent them to (stylist’s assistant, intern) in the blurry days prior.
When you’re locked out of your studio two days off a runway show (no matter how well-received) your options are basically to break down in exhausted tears, or take it in stride. So Erin texts her sales director, then starts talking about the week: the mass hysteria over a bit of winter weather, someone trying to fake their way into a show as Vogue editor Lisa Love, and how graciously Tory Burch and Andrew Rosen insisted on standing, out of the spotlight, at the Suno show–foregoing seats in the front row with Jenna Lyons, Vogue’s Mark Holgate and Meredith Melling Burke, and a pair of Courtins-Clarins girls.

Inside Suno’s garment district headquarters, the walls are lined with African sign painters’ interpretations of old collection sketches. The design room (still unfinished–they just moved in) has a bottle of vitamin C, a Diptyque Figuier candle, and a layer of crumpled fabrics, business cards, receipts and zipper catalogs on beautiful weathered-wood surfaces. The showroom is filled with the fall collection–not yet fully merchandised–and an inviting mix of modern furniture and décor from around the world. It’s here that Erin takes a seat and starts talking in her unguarded, quick but thoughtful way about why she’s here and where she’s heading next.

“I was always really fascinated by the idea that we can create who we are by what we wear,” Erin says. She had babysitters photograph her outfits, and there was, of course, that first-day-of-kindergarten incident. But her professor mother and lawyer father didn’t go for design school, so she went to UCLA for English literature. And then she announced she was going to design school, and that there wasn’t much they could do about it. They still don’t understand the reality of the business (“He has no idea what I do every day,” she laughs, referring to her father. “He just thinks that I must come in and just draw.”) but have they changed their mind about the value of their daughter’s career ambitions? Her answer is an instant and emphatic yes. Now they fly in from Colorado for every single show; she had dinner with them just last night.

Suno’s brand story doesn’t begin with Erin though. It begins with a half-German, half-Korean man’s love of Kenya, his second home. Max Osterweis saw how post-election violence threatened their economy and decided to start a womenswear line using their fabrics and artisans. He had no design training, which is where Erin came in. In 2008, they spent three months in Kenya together, and the line was born.
But if the brand’s origins are intensely personal to Max (“Suno” is his mom’s name), Erin’s detachment is only partial–and useful. “Kenya’s stunning. It’s so beautiful. It’s so romantic in this really weird way, and still kind of colonial and you just feel like you’ve gone back in time a little bit. So I did fall in love with it. I also feel like I’m naturally sort of a very pragmatic person and so… I do see it as a business relationship as well… if our production isn’t up to par, which we’ve had on certain items, then, you know, it’s good that I see it that way because if we get too emotionally attached to it we will forgive those problems.”
This mix of pragmatism and emotion seems to sum her up pretty well. And Erin is lovely: unguarded, thoughtful–and definitely not inclined to romanticize.

Her father might imagine a life sketching, but fashion is a process with precise deadlines, and another collection always nipping at your heels. Only four days after showing Fall, she is flying to Paris and going directly to the Première Vision fabric show. “I find that’s actually the best thing to do,” she says of her back-to-the-grind post-show recovery process. “Cause the truth is, right after a show you feel pretty empty. You feel really exhausted… I find that the only cure for that is work. You just need to get back into creating something new. I’ve realized something about myself: I’m a worker. Working makes me happier than anything else.”
And this season work didn’t end when her girls walked the runway. In January she signed on as a consultant for Tory Burch and is still soaking up the process there, with their show now two days away. (So when Burch and Rosen were so gracious at the Suno show, it wasn’t just as two industry heavyweights–Rosen introduced them). Erin’s emphatic that the line belongs to Burch, absolutely (and she’s done a fine job of it–she recently became a billionaire at just 46 when her ex sold a stake in the brand). But, Erin says, “They started showing a few years ago and I think it was just a good time to have some new voices in there. So I’m trying to affect their direction a little bit just from a creative standpoint… It’s not about me there. It’s SO team–they need to be empowered.”
Next to the puzzlingly flawless Burch (she has three sons, three stepdaughters, but never a hair out of place) Erin, who has built a brand on slightly quirky proportions and bold international prints, who doesn’t wear heels, who is constantly brushing back the sweeping longer right side of her bob, feels weird. But she says one of her roles is ensuring that everyone feels safe and able to express their own creativity–her “weird” slightly tempers what would otherwise be a very intimidating talent.

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Erin walks through her Suno showroom like it’s a family library: every entry has value and a story. As she pulls pieces that were the starting points of the Fall collection, she’s just highlighting some things, not dismissing others. She pulls out a top of mixed prints in a delicate purple floral and stripes (“I felt that was very special”), a dress in a large yellow floral (“I love this one”). “The Russian paisley was another one we really just felt drawn to” she says; it opened the show.
She sits back down facing the clothes, which are gently backlit by large windows on a wintery Sunday morning. “As soon as you find yourself drawn to certain things you have to ask questions of why. And so then very early I started exploring the idea of armor.” This becomes the collection talking point: modern armor, with quilting and neoprene that’s both protective and empowering. This idea doesn’t come from a moment of personal vulnerability, and it’s not about something Erin’s closet was missing (“I could happily wear the same thing–maybe three outfits–my whole life”). “It was more I felt myself just being really drawn to these medieval colors, the idea of clans, you know, the idea of these Celtic clans, the Crusades, Joan of Arc…” Her low, normally rapidfire voice trails off gently.
With that first idea in mind they buy and develop fabrics, and work with artisans in Kenya, Peru, India. “Inspiration isn’t the right word for what comes from there, but their hands affect everything in a really interesting and beautiful way,” she says. “So the way they interpret certain things, you know, these dogs,” she starts to pull at the collection piece she’s wearing, which drips with small chains over subtly varying purple and black embroidered dog heads. “There’s something so rural about the way that it’s done–and this was done in India–that I think adds a whole other dimension to it… I think having those hands touch it deeply affects the aesthetic of the collection.”
And that aesthetic is ultimately hers. She doesn’t pick a muse each season; the silhouettes and colors are what she wants to wear. She is drawn to the utilitarian, but there is always a touch of the feminine.
There is pressure for her to wear the clothes as a brand ambassador (which Max does a lot of in a different way–his signature is the white v-necked t-shirt). But she also knows who she wants in her clothes. “There’s so many girls, in New York especially, who just blow my mind… there’s something about these women who have been drawn to New York who are so smart, like whip smart, and thoughtful and funny and just COOL… and THAT is the woman I want to design for. You know, someone who knows who she is and she’s OK with it and she goes for it. And I think those women need to be celebrated.”
Her awe of these women is clear. She’s been developing a rapport with Burch, and being someone in need of her solid 8 hours she says, “I asked her that yesterday, ‘Tory, how much do you sleep at night?’ ‘I dunno, 5 hours.’ And she’s THAT person. She’s meant to be successful. She’s funny and smart and so nice and I feel like I’m just the weirdo. I totally am.”
But watching her at lunch with Garance Doré, Caroline Issa and Laure Hériard Dubreuil in a Doré film, and seeing who ranks among Suno’s devoted followers, it seems pretty clear that these fascinatingly articulate and genuine New York women see one of their own in Erin Beatty.

Zippers or bows?
Depends!

Leather or lace?
Depends!

Favorite neon?
Green.

First thing you ate or drank this morning?
Coffee.

First thing you’d eat or drink if it wasn’t fashion week?
Coffee.

Last thing you drank last night?
Water.

Favorite place to get coffee?
There’s a new place right by my apartment called Jack’s. I’m into it.

Favorite place to buy shoes?
Jeffrey’s actually has a great shoe department. Or Paris… abroad, just traveling.

Favorite place in New York?
My apartment.

Favorite place on the Earth?
I don’t know, probably the mountains.

What would you wear if the world was ending?
I think I’d want to be warm.

Where do you consider ‘home’?
New York.

A place that makes you feel calm?
My apartment.

A place where you always feel excited?
At work.

Best quality in a friend?
Loyalty.

Your idea of misery?
Complete lack of stimulus.

What are you listening to this week?
God I’ve been listening to our show songs [laughs].

What is your present state of mind?
I feel pretty good actually. I’m content. I’m content… I feel like I don’t want very much right now.

Fill in the blank: fashion week is__________
Tiring.

Style crush?
Who am I really into right now? I mean I love–it’s so funny because my crushes on people are often so based on their personalities. I have a bit of a crush on Jessica Chastain, but it’s definitely not a style crush. I think Giovanna Battaglia always pulls it together quite beautifully. And I also love Tamu McPherson. I think that they both look cool–Giovanna is definitely a little bit more dressed up but I love that Tamu can be utilitarian in her way.

What gets the most wear in your closet?
I have a black Comme des Garçons skirt that I wear quite a bit.

Who’s your unsung fashion hero (individual or title)?
There are women in the industry who I definitely admire… strangely it’s not the most easy industry for women. And it certainly doesn’t help when they’re not boasting other women up…
I really admire people that know what they’re good at, you know and then they build–I think [Phoebe Philo] must build really wonderful teams. Because we’re so not alone, you know? Without the people I work with I’m absolutely nothing. I love them. They are my loves and I’ll do anything to make the sure that they’re happy.

Dream job outside of fashion?
I think I would love to eventually do something more humanitarian.

Last question: what were you wearing 10 years ago?
God who knows? Oh, I’ve had some really weird phases, it’s fair to say. [Laughs] Brian Molloy, our stylist, and I were going through pictures and I definitely went through a cheesy LA phase–I don’t know, a denim moment, and he showed me a picture of him in college and he was wearing these weird leggings and he’s like “It was very conceptual.” [Laughs] The good thing about getting older is you don’t need to impress as much. You know it’s not about that. I don’t need to look like a model, or wear clothes like one, or get too dressed up–I’m fine. I don’t [wear heels]. I don’t do that. I don’t look good in them. I walk weird. It’s very unchic.

ERIN BEATTY, SUNO | sunony.com

PHOTOS: MEGHAN MCGARRY | WORDS: GENEVIEVE ERNST