Claudia opened her first store on Melrose ave in 1979, with clothes made of parachute nylon and football jersey. Her first fashion hit was her “Depression wear” which was a Mad Max meets the Stone Age. Celebrities like Cher, Bette Midler, and Diane Keaton, were regulars at the boutique.
   Later, Claudia designed what became her signature collection made from antique Japanese kimono constructed into a patchwork fabric, and remade into tailored jackets.
  
   By 1994, with her second child on the way, Claudia decided to take a break. The Melrose store and wholesale operation was closed after fifteen years.
   In 1996, after the birth of her third child, Claudia took a space in the Crossroads of the World complex, an historical landmark in the heart of Hollywood, where a studio is still located.