Sarah-Jane Clarke has always been on trend. Throughout the noughties, she led the Australian fashion pack along with her best friend Heidi Middleton and their uber-hot label Sass and Bide.
Then a couple of years ago she started her own niche lifestyle brand – SJ Made for Travel – successfully combining two of the hottest trends on the planet – sustainability and travel.
But it’s her most recent role which has been the most inspiring: party girl Sarah-Jane decided to give up alcohol – a move which she shared with her followers online with such raw openness that she has become the accidental advocate for sobriety in Australia. A tough gig by anyone’s measure as it has involved tackling many major social and mental obstacles that are ingrained in our drinking culture. “When I told everyone I was giving up alcohol, I got a message from a friend who said `don’t be a dickhead I’ll come over tonight with some champagne and we’ll talk about it’,” she says with typical candour in the latest Finding Fearless with marie claire podcast.
Her story is a journey that spans the highs of meeting Sarah Jessica Parker on the set of Sex and the City to lows of waking up hungover in the middle of the night with drunk-dancing regrets and alcohol-fuelled shame. “My biggest lesson since giving up alcohol is finding out that everything i needed was inside of me but i just didn’t tap into it,” she confesses in the podcast.
If you ever wanted to peek inside the life of a fashion designer A-lister, or if you’ve ever contemplated life beyond booze, or if you just want to see what real transformation looks like, then settle in and be inspired by SJ’s remarkable life. On trend as always.
