Claire Mansir graduated in 1993 from the renowned New York Fashion Institute of Technology, majoring in fashion design. Following graduation, she worked in the fashion industry in New York City as a design assistant, technique designer, showroom coordinator, and design director. Since she was young, she found that she very interested in fashion design. She inherited her interest in fashion design from her mother. As a young girl, she watched and learned from her mother she handcrafted garments. Her creative inspiration comes from her father. Her father is an architect and Claire inherited her father’s gift for creating simple and elegant designs.
Designing runs in her family, tracing back through her ancestry, her great grandfather was a famous architect. He designed and built the first Chinese Christian church in Shanghai, China in mid 1800’s. Also during this time, He was also appointed as the general architect for building Chinese the first modern iron foundry and steel mill in China, by the very high Chinese official Zhidong Zhang, the Minister of Defense in the Qing Dynasty.
Claire Mansir’s style is elegant and feminine. S he enjoys combining classic and modern forms to achieve a contemporary design. She selects only the finest fabric from around the world. The fabrics she is currently using are, but not limited to, silk chiffon, satin, taffeta and lace. Her designs are always hand-beaded for superior quality. She chooses crystals, pearl, sequins and rhinestones as decoration.