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Imonation | Brands A-Z
IMONATION: THE BEGINNING OF AN ONLINE FASHION BIBLE
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Acne Studios

Acne Studios is a ‘multidisciplinary’ fashion house based in Stockholm Sweden. It was founded in 1996 as a part of an innovative collection ACNE. The brand offers, both men and women’ with ready-to-wear clothes, shoes and accessories.

The name ACNE stands for “Ambition to Create Novel Expressions”. ACNE focused on multiple areas such as graphic design, film and advertising. In 1997, the founder Jonny Johansson created one hundred pairs of denim jeans using red stitching and gave it to his closet friends and family. These jeans quickly grew into popularity, and Acne Studios quickly expanded their horizons by producing other items of clothing. In 2006, Acne Studios became an independent company and detached itself from Acne Film, Acne Advertising and Acne Digital.

 

Adidas

Adidas is a German ‘multinational corporation’ that designs, as well as manufactures, sports wear ranging their very popular sports footwear to shirts, bags and other sports related wear. Adidas is based in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the holding company for the Adidas Group, which is made up of Reebok, TaylorMade-Adidas, Rockport and FC Bayern Munich. Adidas is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and second largest in the world.

Adidas was founded by Adolf Dassler in 1949, following a quarrel between him and his older brother, Rudolf; who had created Puma in 1924. Rapidly their brands became rivals. Adidas is know for their three parallel bars, which is incorporated into their brand logo.

 

Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen is a British fashion house, founded by designer Lee Alexander McQueen in 1992. The house’s early collections caused controversy as he used “shock tactics” and the brand earned the name of “the hooligan of the English Fashion”. Alexander McQueen organised elaborate, distinctive runway shows; for example his Spring 2005’s human chess game. Alexander McQueen launched his first menswear collection in the Spring/Summer of 2005. Head designer, McQueen, committed suicide on the afternoon of 11th February 2010. Sarah Burton in now currently the creative director of the luxury brand.

 

Alexander Wang

Alexander Wang is an American designer who set up his own brand in 2005. Wang designs clothes with a unique way of portraying shapes in a minimalistic style that combines patterns and playful prints to create a lines that is adored by all fashion lovers.

Alexander Wang presented a full women ready-to-wear collection in 2007. In 2006, Wang, received the top award from the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund, and launched his handbag line. Alexander Wang and high street brand H&M collaborated on a collection together, this took the cool from Wang to the affordable, popular H&M. T by Alexander Wang, is a sporty, best selling, fashion line by the brand. In 2018, the designer announced that he would swap the classic runway schedule and would present two collections a year when he chooses to.

 

Armani

Armani is a French fashion house, founded by Giorgio Armani in 1975. The brand designs and manufactures haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather products, jewellery, cosmetics and homeware. The brand itself has several labels from the most exclusive and expensive to the more accessible label; Armani Prive, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Armani Collezioni, AJ I Armani Jeans and AX I Armani Exchange. The brand collaborated with Emaar Properties, a chain of luxury hotels and resorts across the world – including hotels in Paris, Shanghai and New York.

 

Balenciaga

Balenciaga is a French fashion house, founded by the Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga. The brand is known for it’s unusual trademarks, such as bubble skirts and modern, yet feminine shapes used in the clothes. He opened his first store in Spain, in 1918 and was his clothing was highly praised by the aristocracy and Spanish royal family. However when the Spanish Civil War took place, he was forced to close down; this led him to Paris. In 1937, he launched his first runway show; the collection was inspired by the Spanish Renaissance. This collection became an immediate success, and two years later he became a global sought after designer. Balenciaga revolutionised the fashion world and shaped it into what we have currently. His silhouettes allowed him to control the relationship between his clothes and the specific women’s bodies. In 2012, it was announced that Alexander Wang would take over the helm from Nicolas Ghesquière after his 15 years there. In early October 2016, after three years as creative director, Wang stepped down and the baton was passed to Demna Gvasalia. The house returned to creating couture collections in July 2020; having not designed once since 1968.

 

Balmain

Balmain is a haute couture French fashion house founded by Pierre Balmain in 1946. In the late 1930’s, Pierre served in the French air force and after peace had been declared he worked at Lucien Lelong, during which he met Christian Dior. He opened his own fashion house under his name, and his first collection was released in 1945, and his first fragrance was launched in 1949. Balmain had consistently set a very high standard for all couture; Balmain believed in fashion that would display elegance simply, to create easy glamorous looks that had extreme attention to detail without it being flashy.

Pierre Balmain passed away in 1982. His list of successors contain some of the most sought after designers, he had the very best take the reins of his fashion house. The current Head Designer is Olivier Rousteing; since April 2011.

 

Bottega Veneta

Bottega Veneta is an Italian luxury goods house. It was founded in 1966 and established by Michele Taddei. Bottega Veneta’s headquarters are located in Vicenza, in the north east of Italy. company, first, began producing artisanal leather goods; the brand developed a leather-weaving signature technique called intrecciato. The brand was purchased by Gucci Group, now it is a part of the French multinational group called Kering. Bottega Veneta, also now has fine jewellery, eyewear, fragrances and furniture collections in addition to their outstanding leather goods. It introduced it’s first women’s ready-to-wear collection in February 2005, and a year later presented it’s first men’s runway show. In July 2018, British designer Daniel Lee was appointed Creative Director of the brand.

 

Burberry

Burberry is a British luxury fashion house that designs luxury outerwear, it was founded by Thomas Burberry in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England in 1856. Its first store opened in Haymarket, London in 1891 – it stayed as an independent family business until 1955 when it was acquired. Burberry is most famous for its trench coats and it’s very distinctive tartan pattern. The brand doesn’t just produce clothing, but fashion accessories, cosmetics, fragrances and sunglasses. In May 2001, Christopher Bailey was appointed Creative Director until stepping down in 2018 to be replaced by Riccardo Tisci.

 

Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein is an American fashion house founded by the designer Calvin Klein. The company’s headquarters are in Manhattan, New York City and is owned by Philips-Van Heusen and the current creative director is Francisco Costa. Calvin Klein consists of 11 different brands that range from fragrance, home accessories and sports wear to their most famous lines of underwear, jeans and their runway collections.

In 1968, Klein created Calvin Klein Limited, a coat shop in the York Hotel located in New York City. His first collection was a youthful line of coats and dresses. By 1971, Klein added sportswear, blazers and lingerie to his female collection. 1980’s, everyone wanted Calvin Klein jeans and it became a global frenzy. He also introduced a line of boxer shorts for women and later produced an extraordinarily successful collection for men’s underwear. In the December 2002, Calvin Klein Inc was sold to Philips Van Heusen Corp. In late 2016, Calvin Klein stepped down and Raf Simons took over the leadership of the house.

 

Celine

Celine is a French fashion house founded in 1945 by Céline Vipiana. It is a ready-to-wear clothing and luxury leather goods brand. In 1945, Céline and her husband, Richard started a luxury brand. She started by producing made-to-measure children’s shoes. In 1960, the brand decided to have a change, and focus on ready-to-wear fashion for women with a sportswear touch to the pieces. Furthermore, the brand offered bags, loafers, clothing and fashion accessories. In 1964, they launched a fragrance and a new collection of accesoires named “American Sulky”. The ‘trench’ became the brand’s most iconic product, thus the popularity for Celine’s leather goods led to her opening a leather goods factory in Florence, Italy. From 2008 to 2017, Phoebe Philo was the Creative Director with her era held as the “old Celine”. In 2018, LVMH named Hedi Slimane as the Artistic and Image Director of the French brand – he has launched a menswear, fragrance and a couture line since his appointment. Additionally, he dropped the accent from the ‘é’ (formerly, Céline) and a new logo. 

 

Charlotte Olympia

Charlotte Olympia is a British shoe and accessories brand founded in 2008 by Charlotte Olympia Dellal in 2008. Charlotte’s first footwear collection appeared during London Fashion Week in February 2008. Two years later, she opened her first store on Maddox Street, London. Charlotte Olympia designs are influenced by cinematic glamour and mvid stars from the 40’s and 50’s. Her design aesthetic is to create feminine, playful shoes and accessories with ‘sense of humour’.

 

Chanel

Chanel is a French privately held high fashion house that specialises in haute couture, ready-to-wear clothes and accessories. Chanel was founded in 1909 by Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel. Coco Chanel provided fashion to a women’s taste, which was elegance in a dress and power within a suit. The House of Chanel is well known for the “little black dress”, the No. 5 de Chanel perfume and the Chanel suit. Chanel revolutionised all aspects of fashion, from haute couture to everyday fashion, they have created garments that are functional yet flattering upon a woman. In 1983, Karl Lagerfeld became the Creative Director of the brand. Like Coco, he looked back to the past to find inspiration for his designs, and incorporated the iconic Chanel fabrics and finishing touches to his pieces, such as tweed, gold chains and accents. Karl kept the signature fashion of Chanel but brought a more modern touch to the brand. In February 2019, Lagerfeld passed away and his right-hand woman, whom he worked beside for 30 years, Virginie Viard was named as the new Creative Director.

 

Chloé

Chloé is a French fashion house founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion in Paris, France. The brand is owned by the Luxury Brands company, Richemont Group. When Gaby founded Chloé, her vision was to create a luxury ‘’prêt-à-porter’ brand. At the time luxury fashion houses only produced Haute Couture fashion, however few were able to afford such a high standard. Gaby Aghion saw a gap in the 1950’s market, and decided to design a line of ‘off the rack’ high quality clothes using fine, soft fabric; thus the Prêt-à-Porter market was created. In 2017, Clare Waight Keller was replaced by Natacha Ramsay-Levi as Creative Director. 

 

Christian Louboutin

Christian Louboutin is a French footwear company founded by Louboutin himself. The shoes are distinguished by their shiny, red lacquered soles. Christian was expelled from school at the age of 16; two years later he started work at the shoe designer Charles Jourdan. In the early 1990’s, Christian launched his first line of womens shoes, and added the red soles in 1993. He expanded from shoes to handbags in 2003, and in 2011 his first men’s shoe collection launched.

 

 
 

Christopher Kane

Christopher Kane is a British fashion house, founded by Christopher and Tammy Kane in 2006. His first collection, September 2006, was met with international fashion critic praise for his über-short bandage dresses that were in neon shades. The second collection was met with positive reviews, and it was also the first collaboration, for the brand, with Manolo Blahnik. In January 2013, Kering acquired 51% of the brand in order to develop the business. In that same year, Christopher Kane opened their first flagship store in London. In 2013, one of Kane’s dresses was selected as Bath’s Dress of the Year by Susanna Lau.

 

Diane von Furstenberg

Diane von Furstenberg is a Belgian born, American elite designer who launched DvF in 1997. The brand is most famous for her iconic wrap dress. Diane first created her wrap dress in 1972 when she saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower wearing both her wrap top with one of her skirts. This gave her the idea to incorporate the two items of clothing and create one. In 1988, all women from all sorts of backgrounds and ages were wearing her dress. Due to the popularity of the dress, in the 70’s it became a symbol of women’s liberation. In January 2016, Diane stepped down and it was announced that British designer, Jonathan Saunders would take over the iconic brand. In 2018, Saunders was replaced by British designer Nathan Jenden as Chief Design Officer and Vice President of Creative inputs. 

 

Dior

Dior is a French luxury fashion and goods company. It was founded in 1946 by designer, Christian Dior. The company designs and produces ready-to-wear clothes, accessories, jewellery, leather goods, fragrance, cosmetics, as well as up keeping it’s haute couture. Dior is largely focused at women, however the company have a male line ‘Dior Homme’ and ‘baby Dior’ aimed at chidden and infants. When Christian Dior passed away in 1957, the company was handed over to the legendary Yves Saint Laurent, and he became creative director until 1960; since then many creative directors have continued to modernise the French fashion house. In 2012, Belgian designer Raf Simons was appointed Creative Director until 2016. Maria Grazia Chiuri was made creative director; making her the first female to lead the house in their history.

 

DKNY
DKNY is a New York based ready-to-wear fashion house of men and women; founded by Donna Karan in 1984. Donna Karan New York is her main line, and it launched in fall 1985 with a women’s collection called ‘Seven Easy Pieces’. This collection consisted of pieces which were able to be worn at any given time, evening or daylight, weekend or weekday from season to season. In 1991, Donna debuted her first menswear collection. Today, the brand is run by Dao- Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne.

 

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury fashion house, founded in 1985 by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Legnano. The brand has a strong identity as it never forgets it’s roots, it uses a Mediterranean style to infuse it’s collections. In 1985, they debuted their first women’s collection in Milan; instantly everyone fell in love with their designs. Their aim is to make women feel and look sexy; the designs are adaptions of the feminist-era, and then are glamourised, modernised and finally, are given a spice of the Mediterranean.

Dolce & Gabbana had two main lines; Dolce&Gabbana (no spaces) this line specialises in timeless luxury clothing and accessories with new collections twice a year changing to seasons but still remaining true to their long term ascetics. The second line was called D & G, it catered for the younger generation, however this line ended in 2011 as they wanted to put more effort into the other.

 

Givenchy

Givenchy is a luxury French haute couture fashion brand, specialising not just in clothes but in accessories, perfumes and cosmetics. The house of Givenchy was founded by Hubert de Givenchy in 1952.

In 1952, he founded a luxury fashion house and launched his new collection that contained floaty skirts and puffy cotton blouses. In 1954, Hubert created the first shirt dress (later became a sack dress). Hubert became the first designer to create a luxury ready-to-wear line. In 1969, Givenchy produced a line for men, named “Gentleman Givenchy”. During this period of time, the younger generation wanted clothes that gave them more freedom, so Hubert designed a short dress. Hubert de Givenchy left the brand in 1995 and was succeeded by Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Julien MacDonald. From 2005 until 2017, Riccardo Tisci was the Artistic Director of the brand adding some dark, romantic tones to the brand. Tisci was replaced by Clare Waight Keller who took over all creative control – making her the first woman at the head of the brand. Keller designed Meghan Markle’s wedding gown to her marriage of Prince Harry in 2018. In April 2020, it was announced her departure from the brand. 

 

Gucci

Gucci is an Italian fashion and leather goods fashion house; part of the Gucci Group. Gucci was founded in 1921 by Guccio Gucci in Florence, Italy. In 1920, they established a shop where they sold leather goods, remembering to maintain the traditional form of fabrication. Guccio, and his three sons, expanded their company around Italy; they produced fine leather goods, shoes and knitwear. Due to war, there was a lack of materials so Gucci created handbags out of cotton canvas remembering their signature band of red and green with a double G symbol. The brand has developed largely through the years, there was a large family feud between the Gucci’s, therefore Domenico De Sole stepped in to restore the tarnished brand with the help of the editor Dawn Mello. Mello decided to bring in Tom Ford to design a ready-to-wear line; this reign ended in April 2004, however De Sole and Ford’s last collection together was outstanding. After eight years, Frida Giannini stepped down, and as of January 2015 Alessandro Michele is the creative director.

 

Hermès

Hermès is a French manufacturer found in 1837 by Thierry Hermès. The brand specialises in leather, ready-to-wear fashion, perfumes and accessories. Their logo is of a Duc carriage with a horse, this has been their logo since 1950. The brand’s famous bags are all handmade, and one bag might require 18 to 24 hours of hand craftsmanship; customers may wait from six months to a year for their bag to given to them.

Thierry Hermès founded Hermès as a workshop that dedicated itself to helping the noblemen. He made harness and bridles for carriages. His son, Charles-Emile, then took over the business with the help of his sons and introduced saddlery to the company. In 1918, Hermes introduced the first golf jacket, made especially for the Prince of Wales. Throughout the 1920s Hermès introduced women’s couture, leather handbags and scarves. The family owned business came to an end, and is now owned by Patrick Thomas.

 

J Brand

J Brand is a LA based high-end denim and ready-to-wear fashion brand for both men and women. J brand was co-founded in 2004 by Jeff Rudes. The brand’s aim is to create the perfect fitting jeans for everyone, that are timeless. In 2005, the brand launched their first store in LA.

 

Jil Sander

Jil Sander is a German fashion house founded by Jil Sander in 1968. Her first female collection was launched in 1973, and later in 1997 her menswear collection followed. In 1999 Prada Group brought 75% of the brand, and six months later Jil left the company. This led to the company suffering large financial loss. Jil Sander came back in 2003 for a short period of time. It was then bought off by Change Capital Partners LLP, and in 2008 by a company, called Onward Holdings Co. Ltd. Lucie and Luke Meier are the main designers of the brand since 2017; previously Milan Vukmirovic, Rodolfo Paglialunga and Raf Simons.

 

Jimmy Choo

Jimmy Choo is a British high end fashion house specialising mainly in shoes, however it also produces handbags, accessories and fragrances. The company was found by Jimmy Choo and Tamara Mellon OBE in 1996. Choo left the brand in 2001, followed by Mellon in 2011. Jimmy Choo began my creating ready-to-wear shoes, later followed by prodding handbags and small leather goods. In 2017, Michael Kors Holdings acquired the brand for £896 million with the deal being sealed that November.

 

Kenzo

Kenzo is a French fashion house founded by Kenzo Takada (originally from Japan) in 1970. He uses his Japanese roots to infuse his collections, as well as taking European high fashion into account. Kenzo’s first boutique, located in Paris, was named Jungle Jap, and it had jungle decor; the shop sold handmade women’s clothing. IN 1983 Kenzo progressed to designing men, kids and home collections. Today the company is owned by a luxury goods company, LVMH. From 2012 to 2019, the brand’s head designers were the founders of Opening Ceremony, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim. The duo stepped down and Felipe Oliveira Baptista was appointed to take over in 2019. The brand’s iconic tiger imprinted upon clothing has been worn by many celebrities.

 

La Perla

La Perla is an Italian luxury women’s lingerie company. La Perla was founded by Ada Masotti in 1954, Bologna Italy. In 1971, La Perla started manufacturing swimwear and later proceeded to making perfumes in 1993. In 1954, lingerie would be transported in velvet suitcases, thus the family decided to name their brand La Perla. During the 1960’s Ada Masotti decided to create colourful underwear with occasional patterns. In the 1970’s fashion started to uncover women’s legs thus one needed a pair of sleek, natural lined underwear; La Perla provided. 1994 was a huge turning point, as La Perla launched a bra that emphases the natural shape of the body. Spring/Summer 15 saw the brand introduce a menswear collection; this collection had similar fabrics as the women’s collection.

 

Lanvin

Lanvin is a French high fashion house, founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin. It all started when Lanvin made incredibly beautiful clothes for her daughter, Marie-Blanche de Polignac, this created a lot of attention from wealthy people and they requested for Lanvin to create ones for their children. Soon, she was creating clothes for the mothers and celebrities of Europe; she opened her first store in Paris. 1923 was a huge year for Lanvin as she opened stores for fur, lingerie, home decor and menswear; two years later she created her first fragrance named “My Sin”. Lanvin’s trademark, still to this day, have been her skilful use of intricate trimmings, clear, light fabrics and beaded embroideries. After the death of Jeanne in 1946, the brand has had a number of incredible designers at their front line; the iconic Alber Elbaz stepped down in 2015 after 13 years leaving Lucas Ossendrijver and Bouchra Jarrar leading the way. In 2017, the pair announced the end of their collaboration and Bruno Sialelli took over with extreme pressure to turn things around for the brand. 

 

Missoni

Missoni is an Italian fashion house founded by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni in 1953 based in Varese. The brand is known for its colourful knitwear designs with creative patterns. Missoni set up a small knitwear shop in gallarate, and five years later they presented their first collection in Milan. Sadly, Tai became more interested in designing costumes, carpets and tapestries. Rosita wasn’t interested in fashion anymore, and was succeeded by Angela in 1998 while Rosita led Missoni Home. As of 2014, Angela Missoni hired ex-creative director of Moschino, Rosella Jardini as consultant.

 

Moschino

Moschino is an Italian fashion house founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino. The brand sells ready-to-wear clothes, fashion accessories, shoes, perfumes, the list goes on. The brand became famous due to the bright colours and different graphic designs. After the death of Franco, his assistant became creative director, Rossella Jardini. However, as of 2013 American designer Jeremy Scott became the creative director. Moschino has many lines within it: Moschino (main line for both men and women), Moschino Cheap and Chic (a second line for women) and Love Moschino (men and women’s diffusion line, previously known as Moschino Jeans).

 

Marni

Marni is an Italian fashion brand founded in 1994 by Consuelo Castiglioni. Marni, who is still the head designer, has created a brand that creates feminine, quirky clothing with elements such as colour blocking, pale colours intertwined with bright colours and unusual shapes. Consuelo started work in 1994 using fur, however what was different is that she treated fur as if it were a normal fabric whereas others treated it in an old-fashioned manner. Her line was a huge success however her customers needed something to wear under the fur, thus she created a ready-to-wear clothing line that now extends to her producing handbags, jewellery and eyewear. The brand is named after her sister, Marni.

 

Miu Miu

Miu Miu is a high end fashion brand for womenswear owned by Prada. Miu Miu is owned by Miuccia Prada and was established in 1993. Miu Miu is named after the nickname that is given to the owner. In 2015 the brand is going to launch their first perfume, this will be the first time the brand has stepped outside of the fashion and accessories market.

 

Mulberry

Mulberry is a British fashion brand founded in 1971, by Roger Saul and his mother, Joan. The brand is known for it’s luxury leather goods, mainly focusing on women’s handbags. Mulberry became an established brand within the British luxury lifestyle market, as it had leather bags for the everyday country person such as a dispatch and binocular bag. Mulberry sells a range of leather accessories, footwear as well as fashion for both sexes.

 

Nike

Nike is an American brand that focus on design, develop, manufacture, market and selling, globally, of footwear, apparel, accessories and equipment. Nike has become the world’s largest supplier of athletic footwear and apparel. The company was founded by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight on the 25th Januear 1964, and was originally named Blue Ribbon Sports; however was named Nike in May 1971 after the Greek goddess of victory. Manufacturing sportswear and equipment is a large part of the success that Nike has achieved, it sponsors multiple athletes and sports teams across the globe. The brand’s trade mark is ‘Just Do It’ with a tilted tick “Swoosh”.

 

Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta is a haute couture brand, founded in 1965 by Oscar, himself. His fashion career started when the U.S. Ambassador of Spain came across his dress sketches and asked him to create one for her daughter. The gown appeared upon the daughter on the cover of Life Magazine. Oscar, soon after, found an apprenticeship at Balenciaga. Later he found himself in Paris where he landed a job in Lanvin, two years later he became the lead designer at Elizabeth Arden. In 1965 he launched his own line, which was a ready-to-wear collection for the everyday working women. His lines are infused with silk prints and ruffles always ensuring it was flattering yet feminine. Sadly he passed away on the 20th October 2014 from cancer. Peter Copping took the place of the icon as creative director until 2017, when Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia returned as co-creative directors. 

 

Pucci

Pucci is an Italian clothing brand founded in 1947 by Emilio Pucci. The brand is known for its geometric prints in a range of kaleidoscope of colours. His fashion career started when he designed skiwear for a friend of his, a Harper’s Bazaar photographer took a picture of the lady, and later asked him to design a skiwear collection for a story in the winter issue of Bazaar. His collection was a huge success, so he decided to leave the Air Force and start up his own haute couture fashion house. Pucci produced swimwear, silk scarves, blouses and lingerie lines. Icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and Madonna have all been huge fans of Pucci; and Marilyn was even buried in one of his beautiful dresses. After his death in 1992, his daughter took over the brand and the current creative director is Massimo Giorgetti.

 

Prada

Prada is an Italian fashion house founded in 1913 by Mario Prada. The brand specialises in ready-to-wear fashion, leather, shoes, perfumes, jewellery and accessories. The company started in 1913, run by Mario and his brother Martino, in Milan and originally sold leather goods. Mario’s daughter took over the business and ran it for around 20 years, Luisa Prada. Her daughter, Miuccia Prada took over the brand in 1978 from her mother. 1979, Miuccia released her first line of backpacks and totes; these were made out of black nylon. In 1984 she released a shoe line, and a year later she created the “classic Prada handbag” that became an instant hit. In 1989, the brand released their first women’s ready-to-wear collection.

 

Rag & Bone

Rag & Bone are an American fashion brand founded in 2002 by Nathan Bogle and Marcus Wainwright. Their first collection launched in 2004, it was a male line and a year later their women’s line launched. Nathan Bogle left the company in 2006; David Neville became partners with Wainwright. This all started when Wainwright wanted to create the perfect pair of men’s jeans, this brought him to Kentucky for a year and a half in a factory. Rag & Bone provides us with ready-to-wear lines, for both men and women, jeans, footwear and fashion accessories.

 

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren is an American fashion and home ware brand, founded in 1967 by Ralph Lauren. The brand sells women’s, men’s and children’s fashion, denim apparel (Denim & Supply), footwear, accessories, fragrances and home ware. Ralph Lauren began in 1967 with a line of men ties, and his first store opened in 1969 in Manhattan’s Bloomingdale’s. Furthermore he released a line of suits for women, using the same tailoring in a classic men’s suit. In 1971 he launched a women’s line, and in 1993 the company released it’s Polo Sport line.

 

THE ROW

THE ROW was founded in 2006 by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. The brand produces ready-to-wear female lines, luxury leather goods and eyewear collections. The brand’s aesthetics it to create a timeless elegance using fine, simple fabrics that fit the women perfectly. In 2012, the sisters were named Womenswear Designers of America. One of the brand’s aims is to support luxury fashion manufacturing throughout the US.

 

Tom Ford

Tom Ford is an American fashion brand launched in 2006 by Tom Ford. The brand produces menswear, womenswear, kidswear, beauty, eyewear and fashion accessories. The chairman of the brand is Dominico De Sole. Tom Ford, himself, gained fame when he turned around the face of Gucci; where sales during 1995-96 increased by 90% when he was design director. He also helped fashion house, Yves Saint Laurent, and became creative director whilst also being the creative director of Gucci. For both the brands he was able to pull both the luxury brands back into the mainstream market.

 

Valentino

Valentino is an Italian haute couture fashion brand, founded in 1959 by Valentino Garavani. In 1965, Garavani opened a fashion house in Rome with his father and his associates backing his every move. When Giancarlo Giammetti joined Valentino, the brand was in a bad financial condition due to his father’s associates pulling out of the company and Garavani buying expensive fabrics and not thinking about the financial repercussions. Valentino’s breakthrough happened in 1962, when he debuted his collection and immediately he became known internationally. In 1968, one of his greatest collections launched, it was a pure all-white line. From October 2008, Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri were creative directors together until the announcement of Chiuri’s leave in 2016; now Piccioli runs Valentino alone.

 

Versace

Versace is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1978 by Gianni Versace. The brand gained immense popularity in 1994 due to “Black Versace dress of Elizabeth Hurley” known as “that dress”. After Gianni’s death in 1997, his sister Donatella Versace took over as creative director and his older brother, Santo Versace, became CEO. In 2000, the “green Versace dress” worn by singer Jennifer Lopez at the Grammy’s. This became the fifth most iconic dress and “that dress” the first; voted in a Daily Telegraph poll.

 

Vera Wang

Vera Wang is an American fashion house that specialises in bridal wear. It was founded by Vera Wang in 1990. She opened her first store in Carlyle Hotel in New York, for her bridal gowns. This was a huge success, so she expanded her brand to fragrance, jewellery, eyewear, shoes and homeware collections. A more affordable bridal collection was launched in 2011, ‘White by Vera Wang’; this allowed Wang to reach other audiences with her gowns. Her dresses have become iconic, and have been referred in many films and TV series, such as ‘Sex and the City’, ‘Bride Wars’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘How to Get Away with Murder’.

 

Victoria Beckham

Victoria Beckham is a luxury fashion brand founded in 2006 by Victoria Beckham. It only gained huge popularity in 2011, when it appeared in New York Fashion Week. In that year, a cheaper line was added, Victoria by Victoria Beckham. The brand is mainly known for its dresses, however it also sells luxury handbags, denim, eye ware and fragrances.

 

Vivienne Westwood

Vivienne Westwood is a British haute couture fashion house. Vivienne opened her first store in 1971, named ‘Let It Rock’; two years later it was renamed ‘Sex’. Her first runway collection was launched in London, in 1981, named Pirate. Her first menswear collection launched in Florence, Italy and was named ‘British Designer of the Year’ as well as the following year. In 2011, Vivienne was named ‘Britain’s Greatest British Fashion Designer’. Westwood’s collections have been known to be controversial; like in 2003 her male models walked down the runway wearing fake breasts under their clothes. From 1993, the brand has been run by her and her husband Andreas Kronthaler. During their autumn/ winter 2017 collection, the main label (gold label) was renamed as Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood.

 

Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent, known today as Saint Laurent Paris is a luxury French fashion house founded in 1961 by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. It is considered one of the world’s leading fashion houses. It is known for modern and iconic fashion pieces, including its tuxedo suits for women (Le Smoking suit). In 1966, he wanted to make ready-to-wear fashion accessible to everyone, the brand expanded in the 1990’s with launching fragrances for both the sexes and the cosmetic line for women in 1978. Today it provides the fashion market with women and men’s ready-to-wear lines, leather goods, shoes, jewellery and its notable beauty line. In 2012 Kering announced that Hedi Slimane would take over the helms of the brand. In 2015, Saint Laurent Pairs revived it’s couture collection since the founder’s retirement in 2002. In 2016, Slimane left the Parisian fashion house and was replaced by Anthony Vaccarello.

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