Kt Sura
Fashion designer Emily Westenberger’s bespoke label, Emily Westenberger the Label, has found its home in Charleston.
Emily Westenberger, 29, grew up in York, Pennsylvania, where her mother’s love of sewing and quilting inspired her passion for creating clothing. After earning a degree in fashion merchandising and marketing from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017, Westenberger moved to Los Angeles to begin her professional career.
“I wanted to work in fashion and was really starting from scratch,” Westenberger told Holy City Sinner. She began as a personal assistant to a buyer at a boutique on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, where she wore many hats but “felt like I was on the wrong side of things.”
“I was communicating with all the designers we worked with in Europe, and I knew I wanted to be a designer,” she said.
Westenberger enrolled in an accelerated fashion design program at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in downtown Los Angeles. Initially, she focused on bridal and evening wear, landing an internship with a bespoke couture designer.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted her plans. During the lockdown, she decided to start her own brand in 2020. She juggled several jobs and hosted pop-up events to make Emily Westenberger the Label her full-time endeavor. Eventually, she found an opportunity to grow her brand in Charleston.
“I had online customers and clients, and almost all of them were from the South,” said Westenberger, who noted that her Southern client base grew after hosting a pop-up in Raleigh, North Carolina. “I needed to take a leap of faith and do something different, so I decided to move to the South to be in person with clients and build a community.”
Westenberger’s line is made-to-order. She sketches and illustrates each design and hand-sews every piece herself.
“I frequently hear my brand looks Parisian. I love sophisticated, timeless, classic fashion with an artistic, ‘European’ approach—beauty for beauty’s sake,” she said. “It’s also inspired by the South, with fun colors and prints. Nothing is overly tight—I love flowy silhouettes. It’s approachable and friendly, like the people here in Charleston.”
Inspired by Coco Chanel, Westenberger is set to launch her first fragrance, Haven, on Nov. 29. She collaborated with Charleston’s Palmetto Scent Studio to create it and plans to stay in the city for years to come.
“Charleston has everything. I’ve lived in a lot of places, and it feels the most harmonious to my soul,” she said.
