Fashion Your Seatbelt

I have been following the career of Belgian fashion designer Olivier Theyskens pretty much from the beginning. I have seen him grow from a wunderkind, whose dark goth-like gowns were being worn by the likes of Madonna to the Oscars when he was just 21 years old, into the established and well-respected artist he is today. A designer who has come up with a signature style of dark romantic ensembles...

Now more than ever start-up fashion labels are in need of a guiding hand when it comes to best practices for the new normal corona economy the world is entering. That is why it made perfect sense to speak with one of the industry’s leading experts in the field, Alison Lowe. For close to two decades Alison has traveled the world consulting emerging fashion labels about how to make it in an industry...

Burak Cakmak, the Dean of Fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York is a man with a mission. His entire career has been in the pursuit of making the fashion world more streamlined, socially responsible, and sustainable. Born in Turkey during a time when the country was a closed market and under a single-party rule, Burak saw first hand what it was like to live and survive with minimal option...

Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele has always been a woman who follows the beat of her own drum. She speaks her mind. Follows her gut. And has an unparalleled eye when it comes to making unexpected sartorial combinations work. The godmother of the high/low fashion mix, she famously and fearlessly combined the most basic pair of stonewashed denim jeans with a Christian Lacroix haute couture top that featured...

Michelle Elie is a fashion aficionado who has elevated the concept of a collector to dizzying new heights. The American-Haitian born jewelry designer and former fashion model literally walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to her profound love of the work created byone of fashion’s most avant-garde designers, Rei Kawakubo. For decades Michelle has not only collected, but regularly wears,...

Dana Thomas is a dyed in the wool, true blue journalist. She lives it, breaths it and consumes it every day. She is the Woodward and Bernstein or the Ronan Farrow, if you will, of the fashion industry. Her deep dive, investigative books into the inner workings of the fashion world have earned her the respect of her peers and I am sure, when she comes knocking, a few shivers of fear down the spine...

Casey Cadwallader is a man with a mission. As the artistic director of Mugler, he is building the brand for a new generation of women and showing the world how sexy, sensual and strong clothing can also be very inclusive. Already he has generated quite a buzz around his runway casting which has included models of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors. Having singer Cardi B sit front and center at his...

I think few people in the fashion industry would argue with me if I said that Sara Sozzani Maino is one of the hardest working women in fashion. Sara is the head of Vogue Talents and Italian Vogue’s deputy editor for special fashion projects. And pretty much no matter where I am in the world or what event I am attending, I invariably seem to spot Sara, with her lion’s mane of black hair, her monoc...

Vikki Kavanagh is the Global Buying and Merchandising Director at THE OUTNET, the sister e-commerce website to Net-a-porter and Mr. Porter. And the reason she has held that venerable position at the company for almost three years now is because she is a true buyer’s buyer. What I mean by that is that she has the art of buying coursing through her veins. Since she was a teenager she has been fascin...

There are some fashion insiders who call Alexandre Mattiussi “a one in a generation” fashion designer. And I would have to agree with that assessment. He is a bit of a fashion unicorn in that, not only is he a down to earth, friendly and gregarious guy who happens to be a very talented fashion designer, he also has a real head for - and a love of - both the business of fashion and the theatricalit...

When I began to do some research on Joey Zwillinger, the co-founder of the sustainable footwear brand Allbirds, it was hard not to notice the pull quote from Time magazine on the company’s website that referred to its Merino wool sneakers as “the world’s most comfortable shoe”, or when Refinery 29 said “we won’t blame you if never wear any other shoe ever again”. Clearly, the brand that Zwillinger...

The first thing you notice when you meet Arthur Arbesser, besides his head of floppy hair and big round glasses, is his upbeat attitude. He radiates nothing but positivity and you get the impression that he always has a sunny side view on the world. It’s a perception that is further supported by the fashion he creates – which is colorful, often with graphic motifs, and rich with artistic reference...

I first met Law Roach in early 2018 at a Tommy Hilfiger show in Milan when he came up to me to say how much he liked the 60 Second Fashion Reviews I did on Instagram. I was instantly charmed by his warmth, his openness and, off course, his amazing outfit. I soon realized, although I didn't know it at the time, that I was a fan of Law as well. I had been appreciative of his work over the years as t...

Jeremy Langmead is the Brand and Content Director of MR PORTER. Full disclosure, I have known Jeremy for over a decade and I have watched in amazement as he create, launched and grew the MR PORTER website into an award winning e-commerce platform created for men looking to have access to both the best fashion in the menswear market and the best editorial content designed to help those men relate t...

I have followed the career of designer Marco de Vincenzo since his very first show when he started his brand back in 2009. And it has been a privilege to watch him grow into one of the most exciting  Italian fashion designers working today. If you are doing the math, you now know that this year marks the 10 year anniversary of the launch of the Marco de Vincenzo brand. It also happens to be the ye...

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the stealth wealth luxury brand Moynat. And just like the company, which is thought to be one of the oldest heritage French trunk-making houses in the world, the man behind the brand, creative director Ramesh Nair, is someone who likes to let the quality of his work speak for itself. But don’t let Ramesh’s soft spoken, unassuming appearance fool you. He mig...

Robin Meason is a woman who has lived quite an amazing, globe-trotting existence. And the reason she has had such an adventurous life is because she always follows her heart. Following her heart is also what happens to make her one of the best fashion PR’s in the business. Robin was born and raised in Texas,  where she studied European civilization at Texas State University, but she always had a t...

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the MSGM brand founded by Massimo Giorgetti. But when you meet the Rimini born Italian designer, it is hard to believe someone so open, outgoing and honest has been at the helm of a successful and growing fashion company for a decade, without getting jaded. But that is the case for this self-taught designer, who originally got a degree in accounting and spen...

If you are a devoted follower of street style then you know that there are just a handful of photographers who you want to take your photo as you arrive at a show. Or at the very least stand outside at a show pretending to be super busy on your phone. One of them is the Brazilian born, Australia based, photographer Lee Oliveira. His visual signature is one of discretion. Unlike those concrete catw...

Let me tell you about the white hot Spanish designer Alejandro Gómez Palomo. You have probably already heard about his brand Palomo Spain – which he launched in 2015 – because of Beyoncé. She famously wore one of his floral menswear pieces for her first official photo with her newborn twins, Rumi and Sir. Palomo calls himself a menswear designer, that is what he studied during his time at the Lond...

Glenn Martens is the creative director of the brand Y/Project. He is also one of the most talented young designers working in Paris today. His Spring/Summer 2019 show was a seminal collection that beautifully underlined the real breadth and width of his conceptual creations. Designs that have their foundation in streetwear but their execution is of a couture level. Born in Bruges, Belgium, Glenn w...

Klaus Stockhausen is the contributing fashion director at Zeit Magazine and is a fixture of the fashion scene. This is a man who has really lived life to the fullest, and has done it with lots and lots of laughter. In fact, I don’t think I have ever laughed as much in an interview as I did with Klaus. He is honest and playful. Self-deprecating and just the right amount of catty so you know it’s al...

The fashion industry is buzzing about the Spanish designer Johnny Coca. Everyone wants to know how, in just three years, he has turned the Mulberry brand around. A big part of his success comes thanks to his innovative business strategy, his inventive and exuberant collections and some seriously covetable bags and accessories. Mulberry made the right call when they hired Johnny. And I am guessing...

Gabriela Hearst is a self-taught designer, who only launched her signature label three years ago. This year she was nominated for the CFDA womenswear designer of the year award, just opened her first flagship store in New York, debuted a permanent showroom in Pars. She is also currently on track for being profitable by the end of the year. But Hearst is no overnight success. She has years of exper...

The rise of Brian Phillips, the President of Black Frame, to the top echelons of the fashion industry, is both well-known and impressive. Instead of working his way up through the ranks of PR companies he founded Black Frame after having made fashion inroads at the cult magazine Visionaire straight out of college, worked at the now defunct production company Fatal Art Syndicate, and built up a clo...