Rachel Roy is an American fashion designer, and philanthropist who was born and raised in California. She attended Columbia Union College, where she majored in liberal arts. After graduation, she moved to New York to continue her work in retail, as well as work as a stylist. It was at this point Rachel collaborated with the founders of Rocawear, which led to an internship with the then fledgling label. She launched her eponymous Rachel Roy line in Spring 2005. Michelle Obama, Diane Sawyer, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Garner, Iman, Lucy Liu, Sharon Stone and Penélope Cruz among others have worn Rachel Roy at Hollywood's most prestigious events.
In both 2007 and 2008, just shortly after the launch of her line, Rachel was invited to appear as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, a milestone in a still young career. Also in 2007, Roy was inducted into the CFDA as a new member where she stands alongside other esteemed fashion industry individuals. Rachel Roy is sold in several upscale department stores including Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus. In August 2009, Rachel Roy launched her diffusion line, RACHEL Rachel Roy, which is sold exclusively at Macy’s. The launch was marked with a pop-up store on Spring Street in New York City, which opened on Fashion’s Night Out in September 2009.
Carlos Miele: Ready to Wear
One of the main characteristics of Carlos Miele's work is his creative convergence of cut and design with combinations of craft and luxury. His designs transcend the influences of his Brazilian roots with the application of cutting edge technology and an appreciation of contemporary lifestyles, creating a work that is fresh and unique. Born in Sao Paulo, Miele has presented his last 11 fashion shows in New York, always receiving a great outcome from the press and trend setters.
The designer's amazing ability to mesh a strong fashion vision and social conscience has allowed him to create and develop some of the most innovative endeavors with artisan cooperatives from several regions of his native country. Miele brings Brazil's beautiful handcraft techniques that were slowly beinglost and forgotten, to the international runways and important fashion stores, creating a connection between two worlds that would normally never find each other.
Miele is also a multi-disciplinary creator that has an informal artistic background. Always in constant experimentation, he presents a work that questions the conventions and formalisms, migrating between different frontiers and languages. He creates stage and street art performances, photography series, books, and art video scripts. Carlos Miele«s creations and performances have been presented in museums and art centers as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The John Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as well as in individual and collective exhibitions in several countries such as the United States, England, Italy, Nigeria, Holland, Switzerland and Brazil.
Carlos Miele looks to traditional Brazilian artisan techniques like patchwork, stitching, crochet, and leatherwork in his exuberant and insanely sexy designs. The red-carpet-ready looks tend toward the highly structured and the busy, with bold color combinations, clingy silhouettes, plunging necklines, and jagged hemlines open to the thigh.
VLOV By Qingqing Wu: Menswear
Qingqing Wu, VLOV's CEO and Creative Director, graduated from Xiamen Jimei School of Light Industry in 1990 with a major in apparel design and received a Masters in Business Administration degree from Tsing-Hua University in 2007. Mr. Wu worked as a designer at Huacai Apparel Factory in Jinjiang County from 1990-1992. Between 1992 and 1994, Mr. Wu served as the Director of Design and Assistant to General Manager at Shidali Apparel Co., Ltd. in Jinjiang City. In November 1994, Mr. Wu founded Yinglin Jinduren. Mr. Wu also serves as the Standing Director of the First Committee of the Association of Fabric & Apparel in Jinjiang City.
VLOV, Inc., a leading lifestyle apparel designer based in China, designs, sources and markets VLOV-brand fashion-forward apparel for middle-class Chinese men. VLOV products are sold by distributors through multiple points of sale throughout China.
Norman Ambrose: Ready to Wear
Designer Norman Ambrose captured the rapt attention of the fashion industry last spring at Fashion Week with his first showing at Lincoln Center of his Fall 2011 collection. His exquisite, luxurious clothing, fine attention to detail and construction caught the industry by surprise with many of the attendees of this first outing comparing his collection to that of a modern Norman Norell or Cristobal Balenciaga. However, Ambrose has been quietly building a solid business, dressing some of the world’s most powerful and fashionable women over the last few years.
Ambrose’s life has been dedicated to the refinement of his craft and execution of detail since the early age of 12 when he started sketching clothes. As a young man of 23, Norman moved to New York with an apprenticeship and the burning desire to create glamorous custom clothes. Excited to learn and develop his skills, he found the guidance of two skilled masters, one pattern cutter, the other a tailor whom had worked under Cristobal Balenciaga and Bill Blass. Fortunate enough to meet and learn from these masters, Norman found the foundation to the house he has built since creating his label at 25.
Fotini: Ready to Wear
For her debut collection, Fotini found inspiration in images of mysterious and confident women from Mario Testino's portraits in 'Todo o Nada,' Penelope Cruz' performance in 'Blow,' and Angelina Jolie in everything she does.
"I am dressing a woman with this same cinematic sex appeal...a strong woman in charge of her pleasure and her destiny," Fotini adds. "She's always a lady, but she never gives a damn."
Giulietta: Ready to Wear
Sofia Sizzi is a Florentine native who has worked with brands such as Gucci, Donna Karan, and Calvin Klein as a leading design director of men and women's accessories. Out of her downtown New York City studio, Sofia developed Giulietta as an expression of her generous personality and consequent philosophy with shoes made of satin and velvet, clothes crafted with vintage Italian techniques, and jewelry fashioned by artisans.
Being herself the characteristically feminine yet uncompromisingly confident woman she designs for, Sofia is convincing without having to be persuasive: "Its difficult to say no to me, but my decisions usually make people happy".
Nanette Lepore: Ready to Wear
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Nanette produced her first couture look at the tender age of nine outfitting a neighbor in a floral bedspread, beaded choker and face paint. The girl posed in the family's front yard behind a hand-lettered sign declaring Lepore, and thus began Nanette's lifelong interest in fashion.
Sensing young Nanette's entrepreneurial talent, her parents encouraged her creativity. After all, artistic innovation flourished naturally in a household headed by an abstract painter-father and a fabulously stylish mother of four. Road tripping on Route 66 with her bohemian parents each summer instilled in Nanette a free spirit and a taste for travel.
Nanette designs in her atelier in New York City alongside her husband, Robert, who helms the business side of the worldwide brand as its President. Nanette enjoys a strong following among editors, style-makers and celebrities including Freida Pinto, Sharon Stone, Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Eva Longoria Parker, Scarlett Johansson, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Abigail Breslin.
Writing and reviewing these designer profiles are fueling my already voracious fashion appetite. I have a feeling it will be satiated in New York. I will be fastidiously blogging from New York, giving you insider exclusives and keeping you in the know on all of my Lincoln Center fashion moments.
I'm off!
