Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Tombelli.
Hi sarah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story starts with imagination. As a kid, my mind couldn’t help but wander and create, and that desire carried me all the way to Detroit to begin my journey as a freshman animation student at the College for Creative Studies in 2019.
However, fast forward to today: as a graduate, I spend my days helping women find themselves through fashion—from custom looks to closet organization. Life as an artist has a way of changing the script on you, and it’s best to say each new line with gusto, infusing the page with creative risk, resourcefulness, and vision. I’ve learned to adopt a belief that the universe is conspiring on my behalf. As you live through love, grief, disappointment, and success, you see how it’s true—the way each moment ushers in the next.
Fashion is my calling, but it’s one I only discovered after navigating the loss of my nonna, Giulianna, who taught me to sew as a young girl. Our times together, reminiscing about the past, ushered those memories to the surface, and I allowed my curiosity to follow the nostalgia, pain, and excitement. That devotion to curiosity and imagination allowed me to be brave enough to change my major not once, but twice—not because I didn’t like what I was doing, but because something else called out to me more. That pattern helped me again when fashion design rang out to me, eventually leading me to debut my collections on runways for Michigan Fashion Week, or in historic spaces like the Cadieux Stage, which once rang with the voice of Aretha Franklin.
For me, it’s in the textiles, and the way they tell our stories through color, pattern, shape, and movement on our bodies. Watching my own style evolve as my fashion got bolder made me realize how important what we wear really is. When I looked closely at women’s fashion, I realized it was often stuck in a different era—a time when a woman might only leave the house to go one place and come right back. Now, we are entirely wicked enough to see ourselves as a mother in the early morning, a business shark during the day, and a rooftop house music queen at night—and wherever else life takes us.
That realization is the heart of my mission: to help give women the confidence to live life freely and boldly through modular, transformative design—one adjustable hem and reversible panel at a time. I extend this mission through teaching—passing on my nonna’s skills to students from 8 to 60—and through vision board workshops, because building a future you love requires both practical tools and fearless imagination.
Whether I’m designing a new collection, organizing a closet, or dreaming of designing costumes for the Detroit Opera House, it’s all connected by a single thread: helping you author your look, for every scene in your story.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well, my big imagination created issues for me early on. My constant line of questioning gave some people the impression I was challenging them—their ideologies or their experiences. As a young, Lebanese Italian Catholic girl, you can imagine my “whole deal” wasn’t always appreciated. All I ever wanted was to understand, and to choose for myself. I struggled within my family because of that, and getting to CCS wasn’t an easy task.
Once I got there, those challenges didn’t stop. By the end of my sophomore year, contact with my parents proved too much. At 21, right before COVID hit, I moved out completely and have essentially lived independently since. I worked several jobs to pay for school, and when times were really rough, I dealt with food insecurity, housing instability, and huge mental health battles. COVID put classes online, work became a health crisis, and my future felt more unknown than ever. But hey—head straight for it, right? I really didn’t know what I was doing, just that I needed to live my life the way I wanted, at any cost. It was hard.
By my third year, I was in game design, having switched from animation. While I loved what I was learning, I was really struggling. I didn’t feel good enough at anything, and senior year was fast approaching. By that summer, I had basically decided to drop out and just focus on working.
But, like I said before, life has a way of changing the script on you.
My Nonna was diagnosed with dementia, and with each visit, her health declined horribly. Yet it was during this time that her life as a seamstress in Italy was all she wanted to talk about. She’d get up and show me her wardrobe—clothes she’d constructed herself, 10, 20, 60 years ago. You see where this took me? Right back to fashion.
Yes, it was during this very difficult time that my curiosity called out once more. And while she never got to see my first collection (I, Finite, 2022), she gave me her blessing to continue her legacy as a seamstress. She passed away in my second semester of CCS’s fashion program.
Everything came to life after that. The summer following my first year of fashion, my housing fell through. I found myself at a crossroads: leave Detroit, or turn a rent-free moment into a travel and research opportunity? I took my last $300 and took a train to Chicago. I stayed with a friend and, over two weeks, interviewed over 100 women on the streets about their lives and their clothes. It was the first phase of my senior thesis, and it taught me more than any class could. Let’s just say my life has forced me to master the art of the pivot.
Those first few years on my own forged the resilience I needed for my calling. This journey isn’t just my backstory—it’s the reason I approach my work with deep empathy and gritty problem-solving. I understand what it means to rebuild, and I use that understanding to help my clients navigate their own transformations.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a storyteller. Right now—and for the foreseeable future, until my curiosity tells me otherwise—I work mostly in the world of fashion and costume design, telling stories both real and imagined through textiles, shape, and color.
I work privately with clients to bring their most glamorous, functional, or stylized self to life. We have fun together seeing who they really are, and that collaboration brings me immense joy and fulfillment. However, around Detroit and across my social media, I think I’m known mostly for my wild costume creations. They tend to draw the eye and spark the imagination—full of color, dramatic silhouettes, and layers of texture. You’re really never going to see something like it again.
On that note of costumes and stories, I’m most proud of my senior year collection, “1001 Quantum Threads.” It was a story and a fashion collection born from my desire to make clothes that actually live with you. It all started toward the end of my first year in fashion, when—between all the classes, work, and events—I realized my clothes just couldn’t keep up. I remember thinking, “I could make something better.”
The collection tells the story of Sonya, a storyteller in the distant future, who with her team of women work to keep humanity’s timeline intact by maintaining the tapestry of human experiences. Their arch-nemesis is a deadly virus that causes people to forget who they are. They utilize quantum technology to jump between timelines to restore order. So, the clothes became both functional tools for now and narrative artifacts from a possible tomorrow.
On a practical level, “1001 Quantum Threads” is a modular, transformative womenswear collection. Each piece is designed to evolve throughout the day—through reversible panels, adjustable hems, and convertible silhouettes—because I believe your wardrobe should be as dynamic as you are.
Bringing this vision to life required another fight. With even less money than before, I needed to secure funding, housing, and academic sponsorship to complete my degree. I was fortunate that a professor I’d never had before, the incredible Dr. Vince Carducci, saw my vision and agreed to sponsor my independent study. That year forced me to see my dreams as a reality, and the asking price was every ounce of me. I gave it—happily.
So, what sets me apart? I get back up. I pour myself into everything I do. I channel every setback and lesson into the work, which means when you hire me, you’re not just getting a designer. You’re getting a creative partner whose resilience is woven into every stitch. Whether it’s a custom garment, a closet edit, or a show-stopping costume, my goal is to create pieces that give you the confidence to step into your next chapter, boldly.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
That’s a good question. It’s not hard, but you should come prepared. A mentor is not someone who does the work. They critique the work. Find some idea of who you want to be and find out who already does that, local or not. Learn about their path, and see what you can take from it.
I highly recommend reaching out. They might want to work with you, or at the very least are happy to give some good insights. Those who are good at what they do and later in life are actually looking for someone to pass the knowledge down to—you just have to be a worthy candidate. Be confident, and show that you are ready and willing to learn. Go out and meet people. Put yourself in the path of the work and the people you admire. Ultimately, it begins with your own courage to ask.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mango12345.my.canva.site/sarahtombelli/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archive_tomorrow/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArchiveTomorrow
