Sideara St Claire floats between designing clothes and starring in Halsey videos

Sideara St. Claire first caught our eye on the viral YouTube series “Pop Star High” playing a young Lady Gaga, and it was clear she had star quality of her own.

Then, she went on to stun us again in Halsey’s music video for “Hurricane.” Not only does she act, her brand, Nin3, has even dressed Baddie Winkle.

Today we catch up with Sideara in this intimate photo shoot by Munachi Osegbu as she updates us on the state of Nin3 and her move to NYC.


Tell us about being a designer and actress.

Acting, I’ve been doing all my life but I got more seriously into pursuing a career in it, in the last four years since I moved to LA, and designing is something I really got into in high school but had essentially been doing my entire life as well. I got into design once I realized that being different was a good thing and that I could use it as a tool and a strength instead of viewing it as something bad.

How do you balance your passion for two completely different career paths?

As for balance?! I don’t even know what that is, honestly. I’ve been working on releasing a clothing collection for NIN3 for two years and am constantly running into myself. When you love 100 things, and you only have 100% to give, sometimes when you want to give something all your attention, everything else suffers. It takes a lot of prioritizing and a lot of sacrifice, and generally I give acting the front seat because those opportunities are time sensitive and feel impermanent, whereas I feel like I can always come back to NIN3. I also really love music, but have taken a step back from it since I realized I really needed some of that focus elsewhere. It’s not easy. I’m always falling off the fence and climbing back up.

Where are you from? How do you think that has influenced your vision as an artist?

I’m from San Diego. I think mainly what has influenced my vision as an artist is my wonderful parents and how weird and hands off they were with raising me. They never taught me how to be normal.

For example, when I wanted to wear my mom’s high school ballerina costumes to preschool (way too big on me — nip slipping and dragging/shedding tulle everywhere), they thought nothing of it and just let me go for it. I wore costumes to school all the time. San Diego itself and my journey as a kid started with this innocent, oblivious, and proud strangeness — then the crushing realization that I was different and couldn’t fit in, and finally the eventual realization that I wouldn’t trade that for anything.It’s a beautiful, calm, nature filled place. But it’s a bubble. I had to move away to really grow as a person.Who are some of your design inspirations?Hmm. To work on the current collection that I’m doing right now, I compiled a collage of random things that inspire me. It included a lot of photos of people and brands I’ve found online, and some children’s toys. Here are some of the accounts really inspiring me most recently:

@harris_reed
@palomospain
@babyhousenewyork
@louiebanksshoots
@sasha_gymnastique

I’m very inspired by New York and the street style here. How is everyone so cute?

What are you working on right now?

Right now, I’m working on rebranding my entire brand — I’m changing the name from Nin3 to Sideara. I’m also working on a new collection of earrings, while auditioning almost every day (thank god).

What are some styling dos and don’ts in your opinion?

Do: feel confident, do it for you and what makes you happy.
Don’t: dress the way you think you’re supposed to.


What’s something people don’t know about you at first?

People assume I’m not 4″11 IRL, but I’m 4″11 lol. You also may not know that I’m a full time cat nurse, but I’ve had my baby since he was a kitten and he’s 16 now with diabetes and all sorts of shit and I am basically a vet.

What’s your sign? Do u identify with your sign?

I’m a Leo, I suppose that makes a lot of sense. I’m actually not too deep into astrology although I find it super interesting since it seems to be so accurate, even in astrology memes haha.

What are some of your goals right now?

I want to book something major before August. I want to finish this rebrand and get some great shoots in some awesome publications promoting it, see growth as a result of the rebrand, and churn out a few new collections. I want to go out more and make more friends here in NY so it feels as home to me as LA was. I want to write and sing more music. And I want to figure out how to make what I do matter, in terms of improving other people’s lives.


Gimme More POP


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