Brooke Sumpter was just 4 years old when she learned to sew. Seven years later, the New Jersey sixth grader is making history with American Girl.
At 11, Brooke is the youngest person ever to partner with the brand. She is also the first child and first Black child to create an American Girl fashion collection through Harlem’s Fashion Row.
Her Cherry Blossom Couture collection debuted Sept. 8 at Harlem’s Fashion Row’s Fashion Show & Style Awards during New York Fashion Week. The line includes four fashions for 18-inch American Girl dolls and a matching dress for girls.
“Last night was the best night ever,” she told theGrio after the show. “I kept looking at the models and American Girl dolls and thinking, those are my clothes, I made those. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time.”
Brooke’s love of fashion started at home while watching her grandmother sew.
“I didn’t really like the clothes my mom would pick out for me, especially for school, so I started paying attention to what my grandma was doing on the sewing machine,” Brooke told ABC7 New York.
Learning to sew at such a young age wasn’t easy.
“Especially with my tiny fingers, just getting in-between and scared of the needle and everything but it was definitely hard in the beginning,” she recalled. “But as I got older and I started to grow up, it got easier.”
With practice, Brooke began making hats, gloves and dresses. By age 7, she had designed the dress Tabitha Brown wore to the 2022 Children’s & Family Emmy Awards.
She later started designing for her dolls after finding that the outfits sold in stores didn’t always suit the looks she envisioned for them.
“It just didn’t match their vibe or hairstyle or just in general the style of the clothing,” she explained.
Later this month, Brooke plans to open a design studio in Union, New Jersey, where she hopes to teach children and adults how to sew.
“Seeing the measurements, and the fabrics, it make me feel at home,” she told ABC7.
