Michael Sullivan, designer behind The Haus, is such a positive designers with a contagious happiness about him. We are thrilled to have him at our SPLASH, our poolside fashion market this Sunday!
What were your obsessions growing up?
My obsessions growing up are still they same to this day. Monster Trucks, classic horror films, horror films in general, Teken, music-art-dance, Sex and the City, Quentin Tarantino Films, muscle cars, science, Disney princesses such as Pocahontas and Snow White, meditation, bananas, Lady Gaga Fashion Magazines, Golden Girls, Frankinstien and his bride, Grace Jones, cheerleading, popcorn and of course, Fashion in all aspects! I still like to think that I am , GROWING, upward.
How did fashion become the symbol for your creative expression?
In 8th grade I was convinced that if I couldn’t do art ( because it was a “pipe dream”), I would be a Forensic Pathologist and that I would study at Arizona State University. Then, I heard your breath starts to smell like the morgue after a while, so that killed that dream, LOL!
I always loved art in all mediums; I didn’t start really designing clothes until I meet my Biology teacher Miss. Keith in 9th grade. She was my muse and model for years after that! Then my other mentor and choir teacher Mr. Christiansen, would let me sew during lunch in one of the choir rehersal rooms. Expressing myself through clothing was how I coped with my inner battle. I was even crowned ‘Best Style’ in my senior yearbook. Its crazy, people really impact your life whether they believe it or not.
Do you see a stylistic connection between the things you do in your daily life that is reflected into your collections?
Of course. I think as an artist, what you create reflects how you live and feel at that time. Every collection I design is my interpretation of what I feel society is going through, lacking, how I view we are internally as living beings. It comes from my understanding of what life means or doesn’t mean to me, Its all reflected and what calls to me, not just what I think will sell.
What is your research process like before starting a collection?
My inspiration, whether it come from a dream or what I feel the world is telling me, the inspiration sparks, then I start researching.
I endulge and live my inspiration. A collection I designed before I left for California to attend AAU, was inspired by the character from Dead Silence, ‘ Mary Shaw ‘. It was the death of beauty to me, or how I felt, so the collection was inspired by my interpretation of the death of beauty and her rebirth. I felt like pearls were a great representation of powerful female energy so for two months I wore pearls. When I feel/find an inspiration, I live in it, I breath it, I try to understand it on multiple levels, I study origns so that I can convey it to my Hausbunnies.
How has fashion impacted you?
Fashion impacts my life everyday, it’s the expression of everyone around me and on Mother Earth. Every emotion I experience and thought process, can be seen on my body, in my collections and in my sketches. Fashion is not just an art form but a therapeutic ideological look into someone else’s, including my own, mind, heart,body and soul.
What is your opinion on the fashion scene in Denver from a designers perspective?
The fashion and art geeks are rising, everyday I see more and individuals expressing themselves through their clothing. Denver is growing, and so are the mindsets of those within the rise of people. 4-5 years from now, the market will expand more for us “business” oriented designers. But until then, local boutiques and shop owners and buyers need to start supporting the “serious ” and goal driven designers here in Denver. What we do is not just for “entertainment “, it is our passions and creativity put into our businesses. If we are to grow into a fashion-forward market, it is up to the designers, buyers, store owners and locals, to support, fund, and motivate this growth. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a close mouth, never gets fed.
It’s time to make it happen.
Michael Sullivan HAUS Founder | Creative Director