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ABOUT THE DESIGNERS
BALENCIAGA
CARLA ZAMPATTI
CELINE
COVERS
ESCADA
GENNY
GIVENCHY
HALSTON
HERMES
LOLITA LEMPICKA
LOUIS FERAUD
MISSONI
YVES SAINT LAURENT
MORE DESIGNERS TO FOLLOW
Anne Klein was a native New Yorker who made a name for herself by introducing a sporty element into United States fashion. She went into freelance design after leaving school, and her style was to eliminate fussiness from women's garments and giving a more youthful look.
Anne Klein & Co. was set up in 1968, which developed into the well-known name it is today. After her death in 1974, Donna Karan and Louis Dell'Olio continued Anne Klein as co-designers. Dell'Olio is now head designer, and oversees the Anne Klein II label.
Born on July 11, 1934, Giorgio Armani, his sister and his brother grew up in the northern Italian town of Piacenza. Mr. Armani attended school in his home town and spent two years at the medical university. He did not become interested in the world of fashion until 1957 when he dropped out of Piacenza University to accept a job as a buyer at La Rinascente department stores. Thereafter, Armani worked as a fashion designer for Nino Cerruti, and then as a free-lance designer for various companies, all resulting in an exceptionally rich and varied evolution of his style.
After several years as a freelance designer, Mr. Armani was ready to devote his energy to his own label and followed his partner Sergio Galeotti's suggestion to open a company together. On July 24, 1975, they founded Giorgio Armani SpA and launched a men's and women's ready-to-wear line.
Mr. Armani's foresight and vision regarding elegance and style together with his entrepreneurial ability have been central to the success of Giorgio Armani SpA. He is actively involved in key management and strategic decisions, overseeing all aspects of design, marketing and the company business. Other than working on the collections, a significant portion of his time is devoted to meeting with the media and staying in contact with business licensees throughout the world.
Under Mr. Armani's leadership, Giorgio Armani SpA's mission is to continually create clothes and accessories that aspire to a kind of perfection that transcends fashion. Armani's clothing ignores the constant demand for novelty and possesses an elevated character, a quality that conveys a sense of permanence in a world infatuated with the temporary. Now, Giorgio Armani is poised for the future with a vision that crystallizes his approach to fashion as timeless, and yet always timely. Giorgio Armani is committed to the long-term view, reflected by his creation of new lines and divisions, and in his investment in new technology and infrastructures.
Giorgio Armani revolutionized the fashion world with the creation of the unstructured jacket, the demystification of the evening dress - by pairing it with low-heeled shoes or even sneakers - and the translation of oriental designs into an accessible style, as opposed to simply theatrical.
During his career he has received local and international awards such as the Gran Cavaliere della Repubblica, Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica (Italy's highest government award), Award for Best International Designer given by the CFDA, Lifetime Achievement Awards for men's wear, and for the Arts and Fashion (CFDA). He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art of London, the Man of the Year Award (GQ) and many others.
In the 1960's, the house of Cacharel was the first to introduce the idea of Ready-to-Wear. It has been associated with perfumes such as Ana? Ana?. It has more recently reinvented itself by bringing on Clements Ribeiro and Annick Gorman. For the first time in twenty years, the name Cacharel is appearing on the catwalks.
The chic Cacharel logo outfits are both well-designed and desirable.
Designers Suzanne Clements & Inacio Ribeiro's have just created a second collection for the French House of Cacharel. The design duo played with trompe l'oeil prints, from trick strings of pearls to drawn on collars & cuffs and mixed these with tweed tailoring and their signature bright graphic prints.
CELINE
This french house of style is currently being run by the great designer, Michael Kors.
The House of Chanel was created by Coco Chanel, whose full name was Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. She was born in 1883 and died on January 10, 1971.
In 1912 she opened a milinary shop and in the 1920's Chanel rose to become one of the premier fashion designers in Paris, France. Replacing the corset with comfort and casual elegance, her fashion themes included simple suits and dresses, women's trousers, costume jewellery, perfume and textiles.
She briefly served as a nurse in World War I. Nazi occupation meant the fashion business in Paris was cut off for some years. In 1954 her comeback restored her to the first ranks of haute couture. At this time, Karl Lagerfeld, the master of design, is Chanel's current designer.
Lacroix was a French designer who was born in Arles, France in 1951. He worked as an assistant at Hermes in 1978, and in 1980, worked as an assistant to Guy PAULIN, and having designed for Jean PATOU during 1981-1987. Lacroix won the Golden Thimble award in 1986 and 1988. Won the CFDA Award in 1987.
ESCADA
Wolfgang and Margarethe Ley founded the German design House of Escada in 1976.
Fletcher Jones is a long established Australian owned organisation dedicated to the manufacture and retailing of high quality mens' and womens' wear with a strong emphasis on value and service.
Fletcher Jones designs, manufactures and retails quality mens' and womens' wear clothing and provides a comprehensive after sales service, (dry cleaning, repairs and alterations).
The origins of the company date back to 1918 when its founder, Sir David Fletcher Jones O.B.E. commenced selling drapery in Western Victoria.
Whilst Fletcher Jones is well known for its formal apparel such as suits, jackets and trousers, it also stocks an extensive range of casual wear and accessories.
Fletcher Jones - An Australian Icon
GENNY
The Italian House of Genny, founded by Arnoldo Girombelli in 1961, presented its first couture collection in Milan.
GIVENCHY
Guccio Gucci was born in 1881, the son of a Florentine craftsman. When still a young boy he moved to Paris and then to London quickly working his way up to the position of Maitre d'Hotel at the Savoy. And there, in one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, Guccio observed and metabolised culture, ideas, style and aesthetical sophistication. When he went back to Italy in 1920, Guccio opened the first Gucci shop in Florence with a capital of only 30.000 lira. These are the humble beginnings of a trademark that has become a tradition. Guccio's first success arrived thanks to his leather craftsmanship and his accessories for horseback riders. As a more and more sophisticated clientele patronised the Gucci firm it grew slowly and steadily.
The Gucci's - who came to include Guccio's sons Aldo, Ugo, Vasco and Rodolfo, - opened new shops in Florence, Rome and Milan. in 1953, over their father's strenuous objections, Aldo and Rodolfo opened the first overseas Gucci shop in New York, but it was also the year that Guccio died marking the end of an era for the family firm. The brothers persevered, however, and those were the years in which the products destined to become "classics" were created: the handbag with the bamboo handle; the mocassin with the distinctive Gucci snaffle-bit; the foulards: the belt clasps; the ties. New shops were opened in London, Palm Beach, Paris, Beverly Hills and Tokyo.
The late nineteen sixties marked the explosion of the "Status Symbol" and Gucci, along with fellow Florentine Pucci, was among the first Italian names recognized world-wide. Production increased and the biggest factory yet was opened on the outskirts of Florence. But in the same period clashes within the family resulted in the 1989 nomination of Rodolfo's son Maurizio Gucci to President of the Group. Gucci decided to concentrate on the revaluation of the original family tradition of beautifully crafted artisan products. On the advice of Dawn Mello, brought in from Bergdorf Goodman, they cut back from 20,000 articles to 5.000 concentrating on the most popular successes: the bag with the bamboo handle, suitcases, shoes, the "Flora" foulard created by Rodolfo Gucci and the artist Accornero for Grace Kelly. Quality is Gucci's first priority, even if it means sacrificing quantity. The Gucci motto is "Stay small to remain great".
New York designer Duke Randolph took over the newly revamped house of Halston, one of the major fashion forces of the 1970's. Halston, who died in 1990, was known for his cashmere knits, bias cuts, Ultrasuede and orchids.
Duke says that filling Halston's shoes is not an easy feat. However, he says it is a privilege working to resurrect one of the most famous design houses of modern times.
"So, we tried to think about where Halston would be today, and also how to make it very 90's. And, even more importantly, how to make it very millennium, because we are, after all, approaching a new century," the designer explains.
Duke says he has stayed true to Halston's famous knit cashmeres, but has given them a new, sporty twist. All of the Italian-made cashmere pieces can be worn both during day and evening.
HERMES
In 1837 Frenchman Thierry Hermes founded a company that specialized in saddles and leather goods. Since then, the world's fashion elite, including many royals have sported handbags such as the "Kelly bag made famous by Prince ss Grace, magnificent scarves, and exclusive clothing from their couture line.
LOUIS FERAUD
Some people give credit to sex-kitten Bridget Bardot for launching Louis Feraud뭩 successful career. After she was seen wearing a white cotton dress from his couture collection in 1953, hundreds of women clamoured for the same dress and sales soared.
From Madonna뭩 infamous cone-shaped bustier to a luxurious perfume housed in a tin can, Jean Paul Gaultier defies the rules. And because of this extraordinary excess, the once enfant terrible of the fashion world has now been crowned the king of haute couture.
His earliest influences were from his grandmother, who encouraged Gaultier's artistic ability. "I admired my grandmother because she was flamboyant," he has said. "It was through my grandmother that I learned that clothes carried a message, that you could be more seductive by dressing a certain way." From this childhood in the suburbs of Paris to his work for Jean Patou to his own debut in 1979, Gaultier뭩 collections have always delightfully defied expectations.
His fragrances are no exception, each an unusual statement with refreshing blends of notes, packaged in bottles that are distinctively Gaultier. A tiny figure of an elegantly dressed woman stands in a snow globe, surrounded by glitter뻕nd his latest scent, Fragile. For his signature perfume, a tin can is reinvented as eau de toilette packaging. A fragrance-filled sculpture of a man's torso houses Le Male.
The unorthodox designer constantly dismantles tradition to construct something new. He takes the classics and changes them into showstoppers, such as a runway show with real people as model, a man뭩 skirt, or a trench coat transformed into an evening dress.
CHRISTIAN LACROIX
Christian Lacroix was a french designer. Born in Arles, France in 1951, Lacroix worked as an assistant at Hermes in 1978. In 1980, Lacroix worked as an assistant to Guy PAULIN in 1980 and from 1981 to 1987 designed for Jean PATOU. Lacroix won the Golden Thimble award in 1986 and 1988 and in 1987 won the CFDA Award in 1987. A company was formed in 1987, with collections presented in Paris.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are arguably fashion's most famous duo. In their 13-year collaboration, they have created designs that are at once precisely of the moment and constantly evolving, reflecting the life and style of the Dolce & Gabbana woman.
Italian by birth and point of view, Dolce and Gabbana met in Milan, where the former had moved to attend design school. "When I was little, I would work in my father's clothing shop," explains Dolce, a native of Palermo. "I recognized there my passion for clothes and the need to create. The whole design process seemed like second nature to me."
They discovered a shared desire to express themselves in a distinctive and imaginative way. Their nascent partnership, nurtured in a tiny studio in the centre/center of the city, became a powerful force in 1985, when Milano Collezioni decided to feature three new names of Italian fashion. Dolce & Gabbana earned one of those coveted slots.
And the rest is modern history. The company has expanded into virtually every category of apparel including a successful menswear collection that redefines sartorial elegance in luxury fibre/fiber and artful interplays of color/colour and pattern. And their fragrances for women have won global honors/honours. The designers' exuberantly sexy approach has attracted a devoted celebrity following, from Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna to Tina Turner and Isabella Rosselini. But this isn't just media-savvy, awards-show dressing; Dolce & Gabbana boast legions of devoted (but by no means ordinary) women around the world who revel in the luxury, sensuality, and sheer fun of their designs.
For us, it is key that our customers feel special when they wear our clothes," says Gabbana. "Only then is our mission accomplished."
Krizia is the name Mariuccia Mandelli chose to make her dream come
true. She borrowed the name from the title of Plato's unfinished dialogue on
women's vanity and spelt it with a K to make it sound more exotic. Plato's
Crizia is a man who squanders all his riches on jewelry and clothing for
beautiful and compliant women. It is the beginning of the 1950s and Krizia, the
designer, embarks on her adventure and repeats to herself: "I hope I will meet
many like him along the way. How lucky I would be then."
Her hopes were
to turn into reality. The girl from Bergamo, who as a child had enjoyed making
dresses for her dolls, trades the security of a teaching job for the risky realm
of fashion design. Although her decision is a shock to the family, Mandelli is
undeterred. With a friend, Flora Dolci, she rents two rooms in Milan which
become her first design studio and workshop. The Krizia label is born on skirts.
Dresses follow, in a fresh, young style, already featuring fitted sleeves framed
by a flat smooth line. But it was tough at the beginning: making people
appreciate her designs and obtaining loans from banks. In time, success is
inevitable. Freedom of choice is her leit motif.
The soul and creator of
Krizia beleives "every woman should dress as she pleases as long as what she
wears becomes part of her." Her fashion is adaptable to any lifestyle, situation
or cultural revolution and still maintains a feminine touch. Over the years,
Krizia's constant research for new materials goes hand in hand with introducing
new outlines. The first models she showed in public in 1957 included a series of
fruit print dresses. Next came a striking black and white collection showed at
the Pitti Palace in Florence in 1964. Pleating, careful attention to shoulders,
and the use of fanciful animals on her clothes are only some of the distinctive
features that have recurrently turned Krizia's creations into
successes.
Today over 50 collections a year are created for the various
Krizia labels, which includes menswear, children's wear, knitwear, as well as
glasses, handbags, ties, perfumery, kitchen furniture and much more. With the
strong support of her husband Aldo Pinto, who is in charge of the company's
organizational and commercial coordination, Mariuccia Mandelli manages a growing
enterprise with increasing sales worldwide.
Krizia's search for the ideal
vacation spot led to her developing the resort of her dreams on the island of
Barbuda in the British West Indies where she designed everything down to the
silverware and uniforms for the maids. VIPs from all over the world have come to
enjoy her luxurious version of the simple life.
......
Otavia Missoni, called Tai by his friends was born on the Dalmatian Coast.
This is a story of a Modern Eccentric who adores the Play of Contrasts, the continuous swing of changes and contradictions, provided that, above all, the winners are: pleasure of frivolity, freedom of being fickle, a sensuousness of materials, identifacatio of prints, excess of accessories, from an ironic Stetson hat to shoes, bags, borselli and temperamental shades.
Franco Moschino (1950-1994), born near Milan, Italy. Having studied art in school, he began his career in 1971 as a sketcher for Giorgio Armani, with whom he continued for the next 11 years. During this time, he contributed to the Armani collections for Beged'Or and Genny. He also worked at Cadette, an Italian company, beginning in 1976. He launched his own company, Moonshadow S.p.A., in 1983. He stated the words, "Who's to say what is good taste?"
Moschino was charismatic, imaginative, and irreverent and was interested in pop culture. He was a whimsical designer, who rebelled against the fashion industry ("Ready to Where?") and was therefore embarrassed by his own success.
His disrepect for the established fashion business lead to several copyright-battles with other fashion houses, including Louis Vuitton and on several occasions Chanel. He was once sued by the House of Chanel for spoofing their perfume on a tee-shirt, which showed a television set with the words,"Channel No. 5".
Until today a part of the Moschino profits is devoted to a non-profit organisation founded by Franco Moschino. This organisation uses its assets to support various charity projects.
Since his early death, Moschino's Milan-based company has been directed by Rosella Jardini. Moschino's designer labels include
? Moschino Couture
? Cheap and Chic, since 1988
? Moschino Jeans (denim)
A great British success
story, Paul Smith's smart, cool clothes and idiosyncratic accessories have
earned him a place in the front ranks of British fashion.
Born in
Nottingham in 1946, Smith started as a gofer in a local clothing warehouse at
the age of 18. In 1970, he opened his first shop with a few hundred pounds of
savings and took evening classes in tailoring, gradually developing his own
style. By 1976, he was playing consultant to an Italian shirt manufacturer and
to the International Wool Secretariat. In the same year, he showed his first
collections in Paris under the Paul Smith label.
Smith was made a CBE in
1994 for services to the fashion industry and won a Queen's Award for Export the
following year. To celebrate his 25th anniversary in fashion, London's Design
Museum dedicated an exhibition to him, entitled Paul Smith True Brit. He was
named Designer of the Year for four years running by the readers of GQ.
On 24 November 2000, he was granted the ultimate honour, a knighthood.
marriage
Pierre Cardin has, over the
last 43 years, been both a visionary designer and a tireless businessman.
Throughout his career, he has always preceded his peers in conquering the world:
in 1957, he took the inaugural flight on the Paris to Tokyo route; he was also
the first couturier to launch a line of ready-to-wear.
There is little he has
not invented in his tireless quest for the future: the "cosmocorps" (1963),
coloured tights, roulette trousers... "Working for him, I learnt that you
could make a hat out of a chair," says one of his former assistants, a
certain Jean-Paul Gaultier.
At the head of a veritable empire, Pierre Cardin loves contrasts, electing, since 1994, to present his haute couture collections only to a privileged circle of clients. He is not afraid of contradictions. Received abroad as no lesser figure than a head of state, he sleeps in a monk's cell, with a view on the Elys? Palace. He is a futurist who hates computers. The former cutter from the House of Dior is one of the magnates of "business fashion". He has never borrowed a single franc from a bank. He auto-finances everything, does not advertise (except for his perfumes) and re-invests his profits in property. "Money is only a means," he says, "my lifestyle has not changed in twenty years."
The Trussardi story began in 1910 when Dante
Trussardi, master glove-maker, set up his company in Bergamo, creating finely
made gloves which were soon successfully all over the world.
Nicola
Trussardi, Dante's nephew, after graduating with a degree in economics, took
over the company from his father and uncle in 1970.
Taking full advantage
of the company's experience in doing detailed work with leather, he decided to
diversify the company production and move forward to keep up with the evolving
consumer market.
The first step was for Trussardi to have its own tannery
and Nicola Trussardi took the necessary steps. With the help of an expert
technical staff they studied new and sophisticated procedures for treating and
refining leather.
By 1973 Trussardi was ready to launch a series of
products with his name and to add a trademark to his name. Looking for something
original which conveys an idea of his product he chose the greyhound: a purebred
dog which has always been tied to the history of painting, fast and delicate at
the same time, refined, with an elegant carriage - a symbol of
dynamism.
With the label defined, Trussardi began to produce bags,
suitcases, and small leather goods. Taking advantage of the developments in
tannery a much softer leather was used for many items, softer and more supple
than the traditional ones used.
The immediate success of the first
collection led to the enlargement of the product range from the original sector.
First a series of accessories was completed including suitcases, belts, shoes,
umbrellas, foulards, and ties. The next step was ready-to-wear, specializing in
leather garments.
In 1976 the first Trussardi shop was opened in Milan.
Today the network of shops in Italy and abroad includes 183 boutiques. Five
belong to Trussardi and 178 are in franchising or affiliates.
In 1983,
for the first time, Trussardi presented a womans ready-to-wear collection during
the twice-yearly Milano Colezioni shows, at the legendary Teatro alla Scala, a
first for Milan. In succeeding years Trussardi presented his shows in some of
Milan's most renowned locations, including in front of the Duomo, the main
cathedral. The Trussardi look is classic but innovative, with generous use of
the finest fabrics.
Trussardi has undertaken many other initiatives,
including the creation of the Palatrussardi on the outskirts of Milan, which has
hosted a number of pop and rock concerts, including that of Frank Sinatra, Liza
Minelli, and Sammy Davis, Jr. Other projects included a specially fitted-out
Mini, produced by Innocenti, which Nicola Trussardi still drives
today.
Yves Saint Laurent has been in fashion for 50 years, having started when he was in his 20's. He was the first to create the pants suit for women.