“I didn’t expect that it would actually work,” New York-based designer Mia Vesper tells me as we revisit her early success: the vintage tapestry jacket she made at age 25, the viral Instagram moment, a Beyonce collaboration, and the subsequent influx of demand that is arguably every small business’ biggest dream and fear at the same time. “Maybe if I had known that, I would have done things a little differently.”

Now, six years later, she’s doing just that. Returning to her roots in vintage tapestry and scaling back production to design modern heirlooms, she is repositioning her business goals to align with the life she hopes to lead — and finally doing things on her terms. In short, Mia Vesper has packed up her ready-to-wear line and introduced Vesper Obscura. “Was it scary? Kind of.” She pauses. “And then I realised that I can do whatever I want and it’s not such a big deal at all.”

Along with Vesper Obscura, the designer has perfected a jewellery line, Obscura Jewels, which was nominated for 2024’s Fashion Trust Award in Jewellery. Vesper Obscura is available online, as well as in-store at the 69 Orchard Street Vesper Obscura flagship in NYC.

When you first started your eponymous brand six years ago, what was your original mission?
I would love to say that I started a brand with intention from the moment that I made my first garment, but really I just made a vintage tapestry jacket. I wanted to make something that nobody else had made before, but I really just made it for myself. But it was a golden age of Instagram — and it took off.

Once I started to think of it as a brand, in the finite sense, I’d just come to New York. I didn’t know anyone. I had never been involved in fashion or anything. So I knew the only way to have a place in the ecosystem was to make something that people were going to talk about and that didn’t exist yet. And thus a small line of vintage tapestry jackets was born in 2017. That burned bright and fast for some months but I very quickly ran out of benefactors… I was 25 and, you know, how many friends does one have at that point in time who can afford one of my pieces like that? So I stepped away for a while and then I got back in with a really lucky collaboration with Beyoncé a few years later — and that’s how my ready-to-wear started.

What was your background, if not in fashion?
Mostly it was being 25. I went to college for advertising and then I was waitressing and doing odd jobs. My background really was being born to a mom who was a primitive antique dealer and a wildlife rehabilitator and a lover of reading and was a textile artist in her day and taught us to decorate eggs with wax when Easter rolled around. And my grandmother was a costume designer for the ballet and was a Planned Parenthood president.

You said that you feel like this new chapter is going back to your roots in a lot of ways — when did you get the inkling that you wanted to rebrand with a fresh start?
I don’t think that many people would admit this, but I think with some of us [designers], we are kind of always wondering, ‘do I really want to do this anymore?’ And I certainly was for most of the time that I was doing my ready-to-wear line, which was years. So the inkling was an inkling since pretty much day one. I definitely was not prepared for the ride that it was — I don’t think that anyone can be regardless of whether or not you went to school for it, not only because it’s a challenging industry, which people say all the time, but it’s a changing industry. The economy changes and the algorithm changes.

I started the ready-to-wear line partially to make money. And I’m very proud of the clothing that I made — I thought it was very design-heavy and worthwhile and I’m happy I made things in New York — but you know, if I wanted to make money, I would have done about a million other things in my life.

So when the whole thing came to fruition, when I was really ready to hang up my hat on ready-to-wear and rebrand, it was when both I’d had enough enough, and also when I knew that I was allowed to have had enough — meaning I would probably be able to survive no matter what new course I chose in my career — and that definitely had not been true for years prior.

Was that scary?
It was. I mean for all of the years before this one, I thought that people cared about me more than they do and in some way, to me, it’s a comfort to realise that nobody cares if you come to the party. Some people find that depressing, I find such a comfort in it. So was it scary? Yeah, kind of, and then I realised that I can do whatever I want and it’s not such a big deal at all.

What are the main pillars you set up the new brand with?
I’ve always been a really morally finite person so I just wanted to do things that were within my purview of what I wanted to do. And I think that’s what I did. That doesn’t mean that I work with only sustainable materials or that’s all vintage, but I work with things that I can stomach or more than stomach.

I now have pieces that have natural limitations to them. So although in the past I’ve been very blessed by having some viral products — you can’t say no when thousands of your pieces sell, which has happened to me on several occasions — the parameters I’ve set for myself now make it so that I can tap out at a certain level of success. I find that to be a comfort in terms of workload. Personally, I do not want to be more than a few million dollar brand. I don’t want the responsibility and I probably don’t want whatever that means on a global ecological scale either.

I’m not the same person person that I was when I was 25 and, to be honest, that is a very compelling argument not to start a brand when you are 25. I would say jewellery, however, I feel very differently about. I want to put it on the record that I’m perfectly happy to get incredibly wealthy off of jewellery [laughs].

Where do you source your vintage and specialty textiles from?
One day I would love to travel for it, but that day is not today. I get most of them from eBay and Etsy and then I have suppliers that I’ve met through friends around the world. Most of my vintage stuff comes from Western Europe, I work with mostly velvets and things like that. For the 70s, I do work with some American fabrics, mostly tablecloths, cotton, and lace, and in terms of new textiles of which I do use quite a bit, that’s the only thing I can produce at scale, right now I’m working with Turkey and Uzbekistan for silks and velvets as well.

Do you let the fabrics inspire the design, or do you go into sourcing fabrics with a clear vision of what you’re looking for — and find a fabric that fits?
Totally the first. There’s not that many fabrics that I think are the most sensational thing I’ve ever seen, so it definitely starts there. I think that’s also this pillar of sustainability for me, like if we have this building block already laid down, we’re really headed in a good direction. Also, I like working within confines. to give me the prompt. ‘Make a thing’ feels like way too much, so I like the idea that pretty much, I pick a textile and I think of three and a half things it could possibly be. It’s a pretty fast process too — once I have the textile I’m like, ‘okay, we’re doing this!’

Where do you see the brand in five years?
I am so hopeful about this iteration of the Vesper Universe. The vision has come full circle. Money and happiness feel hot on its tail. So, if in five years, Vesper Obscura is still lucrative, fun and fulfilling, I’ll expand into interiors! Fine jewellery too. But if debt and deals with the devil are a considerable part of the new brand equation, I’ll probably shutter this one too, move to a hobby farm and figure out how to monetise a TikTok that cross pollinates fashion and baby animal care — throw in a little socio-political commentary and we’re done and dusted!