How a Celebrity-Favorite Interior Designer Gets Dressed for the Day

Spend even a few minutes scrolling beautiful homes online, and you'll probably come across Sarah Sherman Samuel’s work. With clients including Mandy Moore and Garance Doré, the designer has shaped some of interiors’ most recognizable aesthetics: sculptural forms, natural materials, vintage accents, and spaces that make you want to stay awhile.

Samuel approaches getting dressed much the same way she designs a room. As she wanders through her closet, opening drawers and pulling dresses from their hangers to jog her memory, it’s clear the clothes she wears aren’t separate from the world she’s built—they’re an extension of it. Nearly every piece prompts a memory: where she found it, what season of life she was in when she bought it, or why it survived yet another closet purge. She talks about her outfits in terms of texture, silhouette, balance, and proportion, but when I ask how she arrives at those decisions, she pauses. “It’s very intuitive,” she says. She knows something is right long before she has the words for why.

That sense of self has only sharpened since she traded L.A. for Grand Rapids, Michigan, nearly six years ago. Away from the style bubble of the West Coast, Samuel says, she’s become more discerning about the inspiration she lets in, drawing from travel, architecture, and designers whose work genuinely resonates with her rather than simply what’s around her. “My work wardrobe feels much more like me because I’m intentionally seeking out stuff that reflects and connects,” she says.

These days, Samuel’s life leaves little room for overthinking. When we speak in July, Samuel is raising two young children while leading a growing design team. Midway through our conversation, her daughter wanders in after stubbing her toe. Samuel calmly comforts her, helps her find the rest of the family, then returns without missing a beat to tell me about the architectural Acne Studios skirt she recently rediscovered in her closet—more than a decade after she bought it—and wore to her New York gallery opening. It feels like the clearest expression of her approach to work and personal style: creative, instinctive, and adaptable enough to withstand the unpredictability of everyday life.

Her Outfit Formula

I don’t have a strict uniform. On most workdays, I’m wearing a high-waisted pant or skirt with a cropped top. The proportions work for me, and it’s comfortable enough for whatever the day involves.

One of my favorite pieces is a pair of high-waisted, elastic-waist pants that are so fluid they almost look like a skirt. They’ve become my travel uniform because I can take the six a.m. commuter flight to New York, land at eight, and head straight into meetings without changing. In the summer, I wear them with a cropped tank. When it gets colder, I add long underwear underneath and a fitted turtleneck. I’ve worn them in every season.

Her Designer Shortlist

I’ve always loved fashion. I spent years poring over fashion magazines, and I still love discovering designers with a strong identity.

When I have a photo shoot or an event coming up, I’ll usually turn to A.W.A.K.E. Mode, Cult Gaia, and Ganni. They experiment with shape in ways that are sculptural and unexpected, and I know I’ll find something that reflects how I want to present myself.

Her Style Reset

When I lived in West L.A., I found myself dressing almost by osmosis. It was prairie-dress season, and everyone was wearing them—including me. It wasn’t until a few years after moving to Michigan that I looked through my closet and realized, I’m not a prairie-dress girl anymore.

Living outside that bubble made me seek fashion out instead of simply absorbing what was around me. Between work trips to New York and California and traveling through Europe and Japan, I’m exposed to a much wider mix of references now. I’m more selective about what I bring home and less likely to buy something just because it’s everywhere.

Her Forever Pieces

I have a Heidi Merrick dress I’ve owned for years that could have been designed today. It has slightly extended shoulders, a cinched waist, pockets, and a lightweight, fluid skirt. The shape is almost 1950s but more relaxed. The color sits somewhere between apricot and a peachy nude—unusual but still fairly neutral.

Then there’s a Zara dress I’ve worn for the past decade. The fabric is lightweight but nubby, almost like upholstery, with oversized brown buttons down the front. There aren’t many one-piece outfits that still make me look dressed, but that one always does. I’ve realized that material often determines whether something remains in my closet. Quality fabrics—or even fabrics with real character—tend to age well.

Her Fashion Hard No

I almost never say never with fashion because tastes change, but I’m pretty confident I’ll never embrace Bermuda shorts. The proportions don’t work on me; maybe because I have a short torso. No matter how I style them, something always seems off. A trend has to suit the person wearing it. It doesn’t matter how popular something is if you’re constantly trying to convince yourself it works.

Her Greatest Closet Rediscovery

I recently had a gallery opening in New York during design week, which would normally be the perfect excuse to buy something new. But I was so busy that I ended up shopping my own closet instead.

In the overflow closet in our guest room, I rediscovered an Acne Studios skirt I’ve had for at least 15 years. It’s cobalt blue, with contrast piping, a large slit in the front, and a shorter layer underneath. I remember pulling it out and thinking, This is so good. Why haven’t I worn this?

I probably wore it just once when I first bought it, but the moment I put it on again, it looked like something I could’ve chosen yesterday. I almost can’t believe I bought it back then—I had so much less money—but the best pieces have a way of staying with you.

This piece originally appeared in Marie Claire's 2026 Legends issue.