MHS Grad Inspires Hollywood with Her Designs

Moore High School 2002 graduate Claire Harlin dreamed of becoming a journalist during her time as a Lion. In fact, her college journey and work-related experience set her up to fulfill that dream, but it was her underlying talent that took her down a completely different path. 

"You don't have to have fashion school experience or know how to sew or have a bunch of money to start a fashion brand."

Harlin is the owner of Classic Rock Couture and her jacket designs have been filmed and photographed on the shoulders of Oklahoma singers like Carrie Underwood in her Sunday Night Football 2024 theme video, "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night," to Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, to Miley Cyrus and the list goes on.

Harlin attended Sooner Elementary, Central Junior High and finished at Moore High. She was in cheerleading during 8th and 9th grade and was the captain in junior high. During her sophomore and junior years she was on the MHS gymnastics team.

"We always stopped at Sonic for a slushie and went to gymnastics practice in an old barn-type building. I have so many great memories doing that with my teammates," said Harlin. 

She was in 8th grade when the 1999 tornado struck Moore. She said what she remembers the most is that Oklahomans from Moore are some of the strongest and most genuinely kind people she has ever met. She said Oklahoma will always be home to her and her parents still live in the state.

In high school, she took honors and AP classes and was active on the yearbook staff and on the mock trial team as a senior. She said she had little downtime between athletics, school work and her after-school jobs at Red Lobster and Chili's. She said over the years, she's remained close to some of her teachers and coaches, including Kim Marshall, her 9th-grade History teacher, Kim Pennington and her junior high cheer coach, Diane Floyd. She also said she has amazing memories of her time in gymnastics with coach Becky Fleming.

While growing up, Harlin's Mom was a teacher in Norman, so she said she found it easy to make connections with her teachers over the years. Her traveling Spanish teacher, "Miss Rogers," also sparked an interest in the language and culture, so much so that Harlin took Latin American Studies in college and now her young daughters are starting a Spanish immersion education program.

After graduation, Harlin attended the University of Texas in Austin, where she double-majored in journalism and Latin American Studies. While there, she was an editor and writer for their daily university newspaper, a paid position. 

"That was such an incredible experience and I went forward with that career, but it was a hard time for newspapers and writers. It was 2008, and so many papers were going from print to digital. But then I landed in San Diego and worked corporate jobs.

I do feel like this is the first time I'm making my mark in certain ways, so that's pretty cool.

- Claire Harlin

"I worked as an editor of a scientific journal and of community newspapers but was eventually out of a job," said Harlin. 

With the work prospects dwindling, Harlin started to sell clothing and said she found her niche. 

"Because of my time in digital marketing, writing, websites and graphic design, I transferred those skills into building and selling my clothing design ideas," said Harlin.

She does not sew the products, but is able to market her designs and ideas with marking products in tech packs to companies and said she is more successful in this arena than she was in writing and editing alone. 

"It's definitely not the direction I thought I'd go after college and it's kind of like having a second life. I do feel like it's the first time I'm making 'my mark,' in certain ways, so that's pretty cool," she said. 

Soon after, she moved to Arizona. She started an online Etsy shop and an active Pinterest account, where she sold her handmade necklaces and jewelry. She attended the annual Tucson Gem Show and bought products to make her pieces, but it was when she got an order for 50 of her pieces that she realized that was not the direction she wanted to go.

"I love coming up with the ideas and honestly, I would make the jewelry for my friends and family, but I don't want to work with my hands that way, making the same item over and over," she said.   

It was then that Harlin began transitioning her shop to more vintage clothing and accessories. Growing up in Oklahoma, she had an interest in vintage clothing, and more specifically, vintage Western clothing. She felt it was something she wanted to explore. Her Mom gave her some of her clothing items from the 70's that quickly became some of her favorite pieces. 

Harlin said her Mom would also take her to look for clothes at a thrift store in Del City. She would find preloved and worn-in clothes and boots and although she said thrifting was not considered in style, she really enjoyed finding unique treasures. 

When she was between jobs, she started selling some of the clothing she had collected over the years. At the same time, Instagram had come onto the social media scene. She started posting photos of her clothes on Instagram, but that quickly moved to posting photos of entire outfits and her account rapidly grew to 10,000 followers.

"I started to feel that with my marketing background and my accounts doing so well that this was something I really wanted to do and I wanted to figure out how to monetize it," she said. 

Once Harlin decided to go all in on her clothing business idea, she said people close to her were skeptical and thought she was crazy. But she felt that the struggle to find success in writing and editing had pushed her into the fashion industry, which had been one of her greater interests all along.

She said with vintage clothing, when you sell a piece, that's it; it's gone. Instead, Harlin figured that if she could make multiples of even one great design, it could change the outlook on her business. She took some of her design ideas to manufacturers at trade shows. She approached one that had samples with the quality and materials she was looking to apply to her own designs. 

"There are a lot of elements that many can't do, like the embroidery and piping, but this team could. And they don't normally work with random girls with a dream, but they liked my idea for the Blue Rising Sun Jacket and agreed to work with me on a lower minimum," she said.

Harlin knew the type of fit she wanted for her pieces and instead of using common size charts, she would approach people in stores and say, "This is for my friend who's a medium. You look like a medium. Will you try this on?" But she was actually doing fittings to get her clothing just right. 

One more catch was that she did not have funds for production. Instead, she did a presale of 100 jackets at half the price of production. She raised enough to do it and sold out. From there, she was able to add more color options and variations. 

"Somehow, Miley Cyrus got one of those first 100 pieces. I don't know how, but she was wearing it in promotional photos for the Jimmy Fallon Show. The studio may have had a wardrobe room that purchased one. It's cool because it started organically; I've never paid anyone famous to wear my clothes," said Harlin.

That was 10 years ago. Today, besides her online shop, Harlin has two Classic Rock Couture shops in Arizona: one in the oldest JC Penny store location in the world, a 1902 store in Bisbee, and the second in Tucson. Some wholesalers and boutiques also carry her clothing. She's producing tens of thousands of items now and has a tech designer who helps her minimize risk by solidifying details on her designs.

Harlin is busy not only with her shops but also with two young daughters, Winnie, 6 and Hazel, 5 and is planning a wedding with her entrepreneur fiance, Justin Luria. 

To her fellow Lions, Harlin encourages exploration of all types of classes, including languages, fine arts and other focus areas that can stimulate their personal interests. It just might lead to a whole new career path. 

Find your next homegrown wardrobe favorite at www.classicrockcouture.com.

Gallery photos courtesy Classic Rock Couture and Claire Harlin.