Marc Jacobs

This week I was became very interested in the life of Marc Jacobs since his name has become very popular among women of all ages, especially the fashionable group of young women. Marc Jacob’s collection for S/S 2013 is an example of how he can bring inspiration of a distant decade to the modern fashion world.  He took the Mod scene of the 60s and added a touch of the 21^st century taste to it. He certainly has that ability to create something different from those old decades in a way that is familiar and tasteful. 

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His success however, was a slow climb and he faced some difficulties along the way. He was born on April 9 in 1963 on the Upper West Side of New York City. His father passed away when he was seven and he moved to his grandmother’s on Central Park West after his mother remarried. That was where he found youthful beauty of the crowd in the Manhattan nightlife. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in Greenwich Village and his project of 1984 brought him to the attention of Robert Duffy and the two are still business partners today. They launched the Marc Jacobs label in 1986.

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In 1987, he was the youngest design to receive the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for new talent. But he was stuck when Perry Ellis hired him for womenswear and when he tried to take it into the grunge-music scene; he was criticized by the press and was fired. For the next five years the Marc Jacobs label would have a hard time developing their name.

It finally improved when Jacobs was hired by Bernard Arnault of the LVMH empire to be the artistic director of Louis Vuitton. He was very successful with the brand and increased their sales as well as demands. His own brand is also highly popular and he even started another collection called Marc by Marc Jacobs to make it more affordable.

Works Cited

Agins, Teri. "Wearing Thin: For Marc Jacobs, A Hot Partnership Needs Alterations; Designer Who Helped Revive Louis Vuitton Line Wants More Help with His Own; A Tussle Over the Murakami." Wall Street Journal: A.1. Feb 09 2004. ProQuest Central. Web. 18 Feb. 2013 .

"Marc Jacobs." Voguepedia. Vouge, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013

 Rushton, Susie. "FASHION SPECIAL: Making His Marc ; the High Street Hijacks His Ideas - and Even Hollywood Stars have been Known to Steal His Clothes. Susie Rushton Talks to Marc Jacobs, the Man Who Knows what Women Want. Fashion Photography by Lacey Styling by Beth Dadswell." The Independent: 10. Feb 12 2005. ProQuest Central. Web. 18 Feb. 2013 . 

Xaykao, Nivara. "Marc Jacobs." BlogStylesight. StyleSight Inc, 11 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

Vivienne Westwood

Vienne Westwood was born in Glossop, Derbyshire in 1941 as Vivienne Swire and she became a primary school teacher of the suburban life. She was married to her first husband Derek Westwood and had her first child a year later so she did not intend to have such a path to fashion stardom. She eventually met Malcolm McLaren in 1965 and his different lifestyle inspired her to get out of the suburbs and join the fashion business with a punk inspired style.

After her split with McLaren, her designs represent the opposite of the traditional British standards and bourgeois etiquette. She began to explore the punk romanticism with the Pirates collection in 1981. She started studying the techniques used in fashion of the 17^th to 18^th centuries to reinvent it into her style. She used the corset and “mini crinis” to empower women instead of holding them to conservative standards. 

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Now, Westwood has the Red Label for ready-to-wear, Gold label for made-to-measurement garments, and Anglomania for a younger market.

Works Cited

Sherwood, James. "THE IoS PROFILE: Vivienne Westwood - Disgracefully Yours, the Queen Mother of Fashion ; Once She Shocked by Mocking the Queen. Now She's done it with Her Choice of Models." The Independent: 23. Jun 02 2002. ProQuest Central. Web. 11 Feb. 2013

Arnold, Rebecca. "Westwood, Vivienne." The Berg Fashion Library. The Berg Fashion Library, 2005. Web. 11 Feb. 2013. <http://www.bergfashionlibrary.com/view/bazf/bazf00639.xml>

 

Elie Saab

I am in love with Elie Saab this week. His amazing collections inspire me to learn more about how came into the fashion business. I came across his haute couture s/s 2013 runway collection on StyleSight and loved his play with soft silhouette and care for the woman’s hourglass figure. I love how he used a slim belt to emphasize the woman’s shape and it elongated her figure.

Saab came to the spotlight when Halle Berry wore one of his designs for the Oscars in 2002. He was relatively unknown to the American market but he was deemed as the "Versace of Lebannon" according to the database. He had to make many adjustments to the dress such as moving the zipper from the back to the side and more flower embellishments to make the dress respectable for the Academy.

He was born in 1964 in Lebanon and taught himself sewing techniques. He was already making dresses for his relatives and women from his neighborhood by the age of 9. By the age of 18 he opened his own couture atelier in Beirut and presented his collection. He attracted an elite group of women clientele. Now he is a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and has a Haute couture line along with a Ready-to-Wear line in Paris.

Works Cited

ALEV AKTAR DAILY NEWS FASHION AND,BEAUTY EDITOR. "IT'S THE DRESS FOR SUCCESS Elie Saab Goes from Obscurity to Fashion's Front Row." New York Daily News: 58. Mar 28 2002. ProQuest Central. Web. 4 Feb. 2013 .

"ELIE SAAB." ELIE SAAB. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2013.

Ingesson, Celia. "Elie Saab Haute Couture S/S 2013." Blog-Stylesight. StyleSight Inc, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 04 Feb. 2013. Also, source of first image.

Mar. "Spotlight: The Very Best of Elie Saab on The Red Carpet." Haute ID RSS. WordPress, 12 Apr. 2012. Web. 04 Feb. 2013. Also, source of second image.