Written by Craig Kaminer / Photos courtesy of AUDRA

It's not every day that a European-trained fashion designer from Delaware starts a business, launches a full line of women’s custom and ready-to-wear clothing, falls in love, comes to St. Louis, and decides to stay. “But that is exactly where Audra Noyes Herndon’s success story starts. Herndon has produced 19 collections to date and fashion critics are abuzz by this hard working, self-starting millennial who is succeeding against all odds in an industry known for chewing up promising designers before their careers take off.

Herndon trained under top names in luxury fashion from New York City to Paris, including Alber Elbaz at LANVIN, John Galliano, and Ralph Lauren. She then launched her namesake brand, AUDRA, gained global validation, and established headquarters in St. Louis, which she is happy to now call home.

“I did not grow up thinking I would be a designer. But I have always used clothing as a form of self-expression,” she said. “As a middle school teenager, I would cut apart my grandmother's nightgowns or my old jeans and create different outfits from the pieces. As I was finding my voice, that was definitely a way I could share who I was with the people around me. When I tragically lost my father in high school, I really began digging deeper into my creative self-expression. I'd been painting with watercolors and doing pottery, but it was really in high school when I started my more formal training.”

Herndon always planned to go to art school and then get her master's in art therapy. She had experienced the therapeutic processes of healing through art following the death of her father and she thought she would pursue that as a career. It wasn't until she attended SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) for college that she fell into fashion. The summer after her freshman year, she had an internship at Ralph Lauren working on their children's wear line where she had the great fortune of some phenomenal mentoring.

“I had the opportunity to work side by side with the creative director of that line and her assistant, and really learned from the ground up how to build a collection - from inspiration to rigging the 3D mood boards that Ralph Lauren does. That opened my eyes to the world of fashion and the different areas in which I could develop. From there I didn't stop. That experience got me hooked. I took advantage of extracurricular opportunities and received a scholarship through a competition with Cotton Incorporated that gave me funds to then pursue other internships in New York.”

She ended up climbing the ranks at Ralph Lauren via three additional internships through SCAD in the summers, eventually working on the main collection. She continued to hone her technical, design, and creative skills at SCAD. It wasn't until her senior year however, when she was chosen for the SCAD Style Lab Mentorship Program with the chance to work with Zac Posen, that she discovered her talent for evening wear and luxury fashion.

“With Zac, I had my first experience draping bias cut gowns and doing sequin embroidery, which set me up to attract the eyes of the late André Leon Talley of Vogue magazine. André was very involved with SCAD and came to the fashion show every year. He asked to meet with me and then recommended that I go to Paris. He opened those doors for me, and I'm extremely grateful for his time and investment in me. At 20 years old, I packed my bags and went to Paris for three weeks for interviews. I had gotten interviews at four fashion houses, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

Herndon continued, “This was my dream. I had turned down American job offers and pursued this because it was a tangible step towards making my dream a reality. I went there (Paris) and had a great three weeks. When I came home, I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. I actually had to resubmit, reapply, and redo some of my work to demonstrate further skillsets. I finally got the opportunity to join LANVIN, where I worked for four years moving up the ranks.”

There, after several months with the Lanvin team, she was given the opportunity to draw the collection for the merchandising collection book. Through observing Alber Elbaz, Herndon recognized the importance of being able to dress women of many shapes, sizes, and personalities and further honed her technical skillsets. Then she joined Galliano and moved up the ranks there as well. According to Herndon, that was a pivotal time for the business because John Galliano was removed from his namesake brand the day she started. She called her mentor in the U.S. and asked if she should stay. The advice she got was to stay because it would be a crucial time for the brand and could result in further growth in her design career.

“(At Galliano) I was able to create a collection from start to finish - from sourcing and sketching, to vintage shopping at the markets in Paris, to shooting the collection in the look book, and doing the runway show. This experience allowed me to figure out how I wanted to create clothing - the same process we still use at AUDRA today. Both opportunities were a very condensed couple of years that gave me immense training in a short amount of time.”

In 2014, she launched her namesake brand, AUDRA, at Paris Fashion Week with her spring/summer collection. She was just 25 at the time and made everything in France from fine Italian and French fabrics. The processes she had observed at both Lanvin and Galliano of hand sketching, draping, and using vintage garments – especially tailoring from old pants and jackets – to recreate new designs came in very handy. All of that still exists in the collection today.

Shortly thereafter, she transitioned the brand to New York. “I left Paris for a combination of personal and professional reasons. New York allowed me the opportunity to still get a beautiful finish on my product at a price point that was perfect for the spot in the market I wanted to penetrate. I was able to utilize the highest-quality French and Italian fabrics while marrying that with New York manufacturing and fine finishings.

Her initial collections were much higher end - more couture with more delicate fabrics and finishings - and a greater focus on eveningwear. She transitioned her designs in the fall of 2015 specifically because she wanted to create fashions that women could wear in their everyday lives. She really wanted to create work wear as well as cocktail dresses and easy eveningwear. While she has evolved as a designer, the core values are still consistent. There's a high attention to craft and cut. There is an effortlessness and ease about how she designs that has been consistent since the beginning. There's an agelessness and a timelessness in the product that has been there from day one that still resonates in the collection today.

Herndon explained that cutting her father's shirts and jackets apart was the initial inspiration for the AUDRA brand.  AUDRA’s bestsellers today are still her shirts, pants, and jackets although they are made from Crepe de Chine, cottons, and other high-end fabrics. “My inspiration each season is rooted in menswear or as I say, my father's voice - the conversation he has with me through my collection. As I have evolved through the years, that conversation between my father and me continues. My definition of femininity has changed from when I was 24 to 34, but you can still see my feminine voice influence the clothing today.”

AUDRA strives to create relationships with its customers at various and different levels. Their ready-to-wear line, for example, has consistent core styles that can be purchased online. Customers know they fit, they know the quality, and they return looking for the update to that pant, jacket or shirt. At the other extreme, they have custom bespoke customers who want to create a gown just for a mother-of-the-bride or a specialty event. “I'm fortunate, that by moving to St. Louis in 2017, I began to build a great and really robust community around AUDRA.”

“My customers in St. Louis are not only supporters of my business, but they're now friends, mentors, and advocates. We definitely are intentional about personally writing and calling customers to create an experience that is unique and elevated. This personalized level of service has allowed me to get great product feedback and build organic ambassadors of the brand. My customers want to tell other people who they are wearing.”

AUDRA today is an American luxury brand with European features, designed in St. Louis, developed and produced in New York by women-owned factories from the finest European fabrics, with the highest quality of craft, cut, and fit. Garments range in price from $595 to $4,000. There is a marriage of fantasy and newness in each collection that brings innovation and excitement to clients’ wardrobes.

Everything is rooted in that conversation between Herndon and her father as she designs. Every season has its own inspiration. This current season, there's a lot of joy and love because Herndon got married while designing the collection. You'll see inspiration from her honeymoon on safari. “But it's still rooted in that conversation between my father and me.”

AUDRA is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The St. Louis retail showroom is located at 9753 Clayton Road in the heart of Ladue. Stop by and let Herndon know you read her story in Sophisticated Living.