Miss Claire Sullivan on Blending Couture Fantasy With adidas Sport Performance
We took a trip to the New York couturier’s studio to get an insider’s look at her creative process and design language as she reimagines the adidas ADIZERO EVO SL Zip for high fashion.
New York’s favorite couturier is blending performance footwear with high fashion and theatrical style. Miss Claire Sullivan, the independent NYC-based atelier known for cultivating pure, embodied joy and volume-heavy aesthetics, has teamed up with adidas to style the sleek, newly-released ADIZERO EVO SL Zip. Following the designer’s standout feature in the 2025 adidas Running ‘Always in Motion’ campaign, this latest creative intersection takes the brand’s fast-culture running DNA to a new, elevated and fashion-forward dimension.
Characterized by expertly draped, voluminous fabrics with a healthy dose of dramatic flair, the Miss Claire Sullivan universe beautifully disrupts the sporty nature of the shoe. Having already built a cult following and dressing cultural icons like Addison Rae, Charli XCX, Clairo and Paloma Elsesser, Sullivan proves that performance gear belongs in the couture lexicon. By contrasting the aerodynamic, synthetic lines of the EVO SL Zip with her signature high-femme silhouettes, she effortlessly bridges the gap between avant-garde performance and theatrical NYC edge.
We caught up with Sullivan in her studio to talk about her design language, how she comes up with new creations and the methods to her creative process. Keep scrolling to read the full interview.
Can you tell us about your practice and who you are as a designer?
As a designer, I am someone who is very interested in having fun. I want everybody who is wearing the clothes to be having fun, and I want people who are seeing the clothes to be having fun. I really feel like couture can be storytelling. In the simplest form, the type of clothes that I make are clothes that tell stories.
Can you talk about the couture, handmade nature of your work? Why is it so important for everything to be bespoke?
Everything that we make in our studio is completely bespoke. We make everything custom to the client, not just in the way that it’s tailored to them, but also in the fact that it’s tailored to the moment. We always want every garment that we make to feel incredibly bespoke to the actual story as well as to the person.
My favorite part of making clothes is the process. The thing that’s really beautiful about couture and bespoke is that there’s so many steps, and there’s so much care and intention that goes into it. So often in fashion today, we see people trying to make things as quick as possible and push out as many as possible. There’s something really special about going back to how it used to be done, which is made to measure to a client. The intention behind my work is to work intentionally and slowly in a world where so many pieces are mass produced so quickly, and to have that craft really be back in the forefront of the practice. This project really brings together the slow process of working on couture with the feeling of being fast on your feet.
Tell us about the inspiration behind this adidas piece and how it came to be.
The inspiration behind this adidas piece was definitely the shoe, the ADIZERO EVO SL Zip. I loved that the shoe itself had so many components, but that it actually feels incredibly seamless, and I really wanted to bring that into this look.
I love that this shoe has these three diagonal stripes across it, and I wanted to bring that into the look as well, but also add little sneaky stripes in other places to have a little bit of fun. You see the stripes on the back of the train trailing off of her, and then you also have a couple of them on the side of the tutu. The main event of the look is these stripes that go across the body, which was meant to mimic the same way that the shoe is. We also sourced an incredible extra-large zipper, because I was inspired by the fact that there’s a zipper on the shoe, and I wanted to incorporate the lacing that’s hidden underneath as well.
Can you walk us through some of the materials and other details of the gown?
Tutus are a really classic Miss Claire Sullivan staple, so we have a lot of really beautiful, lightweight tulle in this. I love that the shoe feels like you’re floating when you’re wearing it, so I wanted to have that element in the look as well. We have really lightweight fabrics in it—the tulle and the taffeta and everything has all this ruching, which gives it tons of volume, but it still manages to stay super lightweight.
How did you maintain a performance element that feels endemic to adidas? How do performance and couture intersect?
I was looking at a lot of ’90s running photos because, of course, it’s a running shoe. I wanted to think about what would feel really efficient to wear while training, but also look super cute, and I was kind of blending those different worlds together in that way.
I think performance and couture intersect in the fact that they both need to be very high functioning. There is so much consideration that goes into every detail when it comes to clothing that is for performance, and couture is the same. Blending the two brings in a huge fantasy from the couture side, while the sport grounds it in reality. Those two playing with each other makes a really strong story.
As a designer playing around with something as iconic as The Three Stripes, what was that experience like?
It was so fun, because when else am I going to have the opportunity to play with the Three Stripes? I love when you’re able to play with brand identity in that way and put your own spin on it. You get to really think outside the box, maybe differently from how the brand would think about it.
Can you talk about your relationship with adidas and how this project came about?
I worked with adidas last year when we shot the original ADIZERO EVO SL, and it was such a fun project. We thought, why not take it one step further and actually work on something like making a look together?
How does performance and sport weave into your personal life and creative practice?
The way that performance weaves into my life is in so many different ways. I definitely train six days a week. I am a runner, I do resistance training, and I’m also a dancer. I love to dance—not professionally, but I always go out and dance any chance that I get. I also think of performance in the sense of storytelling and narrative. I dress so many performers, so it’s a huge part of my work.
What is the ultimate story or narrative that you want this dress to evoke?
So much of my work comes from a place of a little girl wanting to dress up. I think that version of us is inside of us, whether it means somebody playing dress up or somebody just embracing their inner child. I think that’s sort of the story that I want to tell.
The ADIZERO EVO SL Zip is available to purchase now on the adidas website and select retailers.
