Meet the Brooklyn Designer Creating a Safe Space for Tailoring
Miranda Watson loves to ride the subway. Born and bred in New York City (her mother is the artist Sharon Gold), she’s always found the train to be a rich source of inspiration for her namesake fashion label. “I really like to people-watch,” she said. “I’m very into the nitty-gritty of clothing–how it’s put together, where people have pockets, how they function. Can they sit down in what they’re wearing? How does the fabric work [for them]?” Watson is fascinated by function and, as she said, “seeing so many bodies.”
Practicality is a key component of Watson’s designs, but so is sensitivity. She launched her eco-conscious brand in 2017 with a collection of deadstock leather jackets and minimalist ready-to-wear pieces crafted with natural linen and cotton. Her current offering includes everyday pieces like a cropped halter top in emerald green and sapphire blue, sepia-hued dresses and skirts, and fluid silhouettes, as well as cropped t-shirts with oversized front pockets. They’re the kind of clothes you’d see on the street (and on the subway) and admire the person wearing them, not just the garments themselves. Watson’s designs are meant to give confidence to the wearer, to allow them a feeling of freedom and, yes, function, but also great style.
Recently, the Brooklyn-based Watson has started a new passion project, which sprouted naturally from within her own community: she’s been doing alterations and tailoring work for her friends and friends of friends, as well as some Instagram followers, many of whom identify as LGBTQ+. It really began in the fall of 2023. According to Watson, she “was hearing from a lot of my friends that they’re always looking for a good tailor, but they’ve not always had the best experiences at traditional tailors–they haven’t felt safe. That’s when I came in and was like, ‘I got this.’” For the average city-dweller, going to get a piece of clothing altered is a quick in-and-out errand, one that hopefully doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (though in New York City, that’s rarely the case for someone good). They’re incredibly skilled and efficient but with quick, sometimes too-loose hands and an impersonal way of working. Traditional tailors are often 3rd or 4th generation in the business, whose work has always revolved around singularly defined bodies and gender profiles. Typically, you tell them what you want, change in a tiny fitting room with loose curtains, get your measurements taken with little conversation, and you’re on your way.
Watson received a lot of feedback, namely from those who’d recently transitioned or were in the process of coming out, that this kind of classic tailoring environment was uncomfortable. The designer wanted to change the process, to start with a conversation and bring a more personal approach. “When someone comes in,” she explained, “I have a form that will ask for your pronouns, ask for any boundaries, as for any sensitive areas so that I have all of the information before we even interact.” She added, “This is so I know how to approach you in a way that will make you feel safe.”
Watson and her client will sit down and talk about what they need, whether it’s a simple hemming of a trouser or dress or something more elaborate for a creative project (she works with a lot of artists and creatives, specifically). Sometimes, she pointed out, people don’t necessarily know what they need or what might make them feel good, so Watson helps present new alternatives to clothing, whether it’s a sleeve that comes off to expose the arms or making something tighter to fit and form to the body.
“I love going to Miranda because I feel like a person, not a mannequin,” noted Carolyn John, a mechanical engineer also based in Brooklyn whose pronouns are they/them. John discovered Watson through an author they follow on Instagram and first went to her to try on a dress from her label. But then, they said, “The first tailoring project I brought her was a dress for my partner Keegan. It had a slit in the back of the skirt that Keegan wanted moved to the side.” They added, “Keegan often presents as masculine, so I was excited to be able to support them in exploring their gender presentation.”
Anya Schulman, a Brooklyn-based writer, also discovered Watson’s work on Instagram. “It’s rare that you can go to a tailor and tell them you want something to look ‘gayer’ and they get it,” she said. “Clothing is such an important part of how so many people in the queer community express who they are. Having a queer tailor is similar to having a queer therapist in that you don’t need to spend as much time explaining your identity to someone in order for them to be able to help you.” It’s true that Watson’s design work is therapeutic for many people for many reasons, especially at a moment like this one when LGBTQ+ rights are being stripped away by the current–and disturbingly evil–administration. Right now, safe spaces in fashion and beyond are lifelines. “Miranda offers a private environment for people who might be experimenting with their look to explore,” Schulman went on to say. “I can imagine it might be nerve-wracking to do this with a stranger in a tailoring shop around lots of other people.”
“It’s never been more important to protect and support the trans and non-binary communities,” Watson emphasized. “It’s just so simple to be like, ‘may I touch you?’ or ‘how are you feeling?’ Literally just being a normal person. We take it for granted.” Watson admits that she never thought about this aspect of tailoring and alterations since she was mainly focused on her own personal tinkering and reworking of clothing, as well as her designs. She also pointed out that she is “a tailor for everybody,” inclusive of anyone and everyone who is seeking a more personal, intimate alterations experience. Now, people won’t just bring her one thing to alter but stacks of clothing, some of which have been sitting in their closets for years, waiting to be worn.
Watson sees the majority of her clients in her studio, but she’s starting to do in-home appointments and traveling tailor pop-ups in various stores around the city. Though she will continue to build her eponymous brand, Watson is eager to expand her alterations business, meet new clients, and find inspiration in connecting to people through clothes. As she said, “I have a lot of big dreams for my tailoring.”
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