During her sophomore year at Washington University, St. Louis, Adri was guest editor for the college issue of Mademoiselle magazine and studied at Parsons School of Design, New York, where Claire McCardell was her critic. Following her studies at Parsons, she worked at B.H. Wragge for many years and then for Anne Fogarty. Adri opened a small business for ready-to-wear and leisure wear and established Adri Clotheslab, Inc. in 1983. She was also president and owner of Adri International. In 1971 was invited to exhibit clothes at Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., which was honoring two designers under theme, Innovative Contemporary Fashion – the other designer honored was Claire McCardell. Adri preferred to work in jerseys, knits, challis, crepe de chine, leather. She believed that styles should evolve naturally from one collection to the next so that clients can collect them, add to them, and mix them freely from season to season.