Monday, November 30, 2015

The designer Bible - Part 15. - Christian Lacroix



Lacroix was born in France, 05.16.1951. After graduating in high school in 1969, he studied at the Montepellier University, the Sorbonne and the  Ecole du Louvre, because originally he wanted to become a museum curator. In these years, he met his later wife,  Françoise, and Jean-Jacques Picart, who got him a job at Hermes in 1978. In 1981, he started working for Jean Patou. With his friend's help, they came up with better and better ideas each season. the brilliant colors, the luxury and the drive to perfection made them more and more famous. 


The bullfighting he saw as a child made him use the sparkling colors, and made him an outstanding designer, which resulted in him getting a major award in 1987.


Cristhian Lacroix

The designer Bible - Part 14. - Christian Dior


Christian Dior was born in Granville, France in 1905. He was the second out of four children. For him to stand a chance in the world, his parents decided that they will raise him to be a diplomat, so the boy started school at the Ecole des Sciences Politiques. 


In 1928 (before graduating), Christian left school to follow his dreams. He got some financial support from his father, which he used to start a smaller art gallery - he showed the paintings of the kind of Picasso and Dali. The gallery only functioned for a few years, because in 1930 the world economy crisis ruined the businesses of the family. After going bankrupt, he realized what he really wanted, closed the gallery and started sketching hats. In 1938, he was working at the Swiss Robert Piguet fashion house as a designer. In WW2 they called him in to serve, but in 1942 he returned, and joined the Lucien Lelong fashion house on the side of Pierre Balmain.


In 1945, with the help of Pierre Allemandi, he established his own fashion house, and in only 2 years, his creations were so revolutionary, that he reserved a space for himself on the pages of fashion history.



Christian Dior Source


The designer Bible - Part 13. - Catherine Walker



Catherine Walker was born in France, 06.27.1945. After moving to London, he started learning fashion design at night school. She made her daughters' dresses herself, and these garments she later started selling as well. She opened her first store, Catherine Walker & Co. in 1994. During her career she avoided the spotlight, gave interviews only on rare occasions. 

Sophistication and elegance were the two main characteristics of her artistry, she made thousands of dresses for Diana as well.


Lady Diana & Catherine Walker 1997. 
Source

The designer Bible - Part 12. - Calvin Klein


Calvin Richard Klein was born in the Bronx in 11.19.1942 as a child of Hungarian-Jewish immigrants. He started his studies at the Industrial Art Middle School, and continued at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, where he finished in 1962, without graduating. He was designing and working for boutiques for 5 years, then he could start the Calvin Klein brand with the 10,000$ he got from his friend, as help to launch his business. Because of a lucky accident of Bonwit Teller's manager's elevator getting stuck on Calvin Klein's floor, they gained hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments, and in 4 years they made over 4 million dollars in revenue. This year created the company that later changed its name to Calvin Klein Inc.

Calvin Klein Source



The designer Bible - Part 11. - Bora Aksu


Bora Aksu was born in Turkey, he's been living in London for 15 years. He was a student at Central Saint Martins, until he graduated in 2002. 
He appeared during London Fashion Week in the same year, his collections owned the catwalk for 8 years. 

Bora Aksu 2009 
Source


The designer Bible - Part 10. - Betty Jackson



The English fashion designer based in London uses unwavering creative vision from the very beginning of her design career. Betty has been showing at London Fashion Week for over 20 years. 


AW/2011 Source

The designer Bible - Part 9. - Betsey Johnson



In the 70s America everything was getting simplified, but she ended this. The american fashion designer works with sequin and vynil. 

 
Spring 2016 Source

The designer Bible - Part 8. - Ann-Sofie Back



The swedish designer launched her label in 2001 and a secondary label ’Beck’ in 2005, but before she worked as a designer for Joe Casely Hayford in London, as well as for Acne Jeans. 

AW/2008 Source

The designer Bible - Part 7. - Anna Sui



The american fashion designer’s main inspiration is music, her fashion shows are as much about music and theater as about fashion. 

Spring 2015 Source

The designer Bible - Part 6. - Anna Molinari



Romantic and energetic Italian fashion designer. As a child she learned tailoring in her family’s knitwear factory.  Her core brand, Blumarine was established in 1977 in Carpi, Italy. 

SS/2012 Source

Sunday, November 29, 2015

The designer Bible - Part 5. - Ann Demeulemeester

Welcome back!

Today we will be talking about Ann Demu.....Demuleeme.....demeestule  Demeulemeester. Just in case you are as awful at pronouncing her name as I am, here's a little help:






Ann Demeulemeester FW 2011
Source

While searching for photos to add to this post, I stumbled upon so many of her designs involving feathers in such a cool way, I couldn't resist the temptation of adding more, than one. They look wild and dangerous, so I LIKE IT!

Ann Demeulemeester FW 2012
Source

Friday, November 27, 2015

The designer Bible - Part 4. - Alexander Wang


Another day, another designer to talk about!

Alexander Wang is next up on our list, and let's just mention here that he's one of the youngest successful designers, at the age of 31 (!!!) he has a massive number of admirers.


Balenciaga 2015 SS
Source



Wednesday, November 25, 2015

The designer Bible - Part 3. - Alexander McQueen, son of fashion God


If I could have the brain of any designer, I would ask for Alexander McQueen's - he's an absolute genious in my book!

Dark, whimsical, out of the box creations have always been my main interest, and when I discovered McQueen, I felt like he was a complete soulmate - his garments not only look amazing, they also evoke a memory or a hidden thought in people, and that's the power of a real artist.

Alexander McQueen Exhibit
Source

The designer Bible - Part 2. - Alberta Ferretti

Hello, hello again! Let's resume our mission, to learn more about these famous A-lister designers! (Literally A-listers, since we are going in alphabetical order, muhaha.)

Our second "victim" is Alberta Ferretti, who is an Italian designer, with a showroom based in Milan - let's not be jealous.

Alberta Ferretti 2016 Limited Edition Spring Evening Collection
Source 

The designer Bible - Part 1. - Acne

Good morning, fashionistas!


Whether it is a shame or not, I have to admit that even though I LOVE (with capital letters!) fashion, and I am extremely excited to learn it at school now, my background knowledge about many famous designers is far from ideal.

For this reason, I decided that I will do my little research on the biggest names in the industry, so it will be a learning experience for me, and hopefully interesting for You as a reader as well.


Photography JUCO Geometric pieces by Sandro Paris, Marni and Acne Studios