Category: fashion designer

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Betsey Johnson

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Betsey Johnson (born August 10, 1942) is an American fashion designer best known for her colorful, cute and whimsical designs.Her love of color and short skirt flair has earned her national and international recognition for decades.Johnson studied at the Pratt Institute and then later graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University, where she was a member of the Alpha Xi Delta women’s sorority.The artist was introduced to the fashion world as the in-house designer for the youth culture punk boutique Paraphernalia in New York City in the mid 1960s.Johnson followed that becoming a creative director of Alley Cat, a youthful sportswear brand, and by 1969, she opened her first boutique, Betsey Bunky Nini, on New York City’s Upper East Side.She continued to have her own label with a variety of manufacturers, and by 1978, Johnson’s opened her own company, the eponymous Betsey Johnson brand.Johnson’s trademark look has remained the same over her decades-long contributions to the fashion landscape: sexy silhouettes, hippie inspired flowing fabrics, whimsical detailing, and bohemian flares.

More of Betsey Johnson’s popular fashions can be found at https://betseyjohnson.com/.

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Hanae Mori

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Hanae Mori (1926–2022) was a was a Japanese fashion designer. 

Born in a rural corner of western Japan, Mori graduated from Tokyo Woman’s Christian University In 1947 with a major in Japanese literature, then  and entered sewing school all within a few short years.Mori was one of only two Japanese women to have presented her collections on the runways of Paris and New York, and the first Asian woman to be admitted as an official haute couture design house by the Fédération française de la couture in France.Using obi and kimono fabric and other high quality Japanese components, Mori created a wide range of styles, including dramatic evening dresses pattered with flowers and birds, cocktail dresses adorned with lace and embroidery, and chic suits of refined three dimensional form.Mori used the traditional Japanese style as an inspiration but in a totally different way.She took the traditional Japanese textiles, the classical prints of the silk kimonos, and bridged the Japanese and Western fashion worlds with grace and ambition.Her modern take on design balanced Euro-American trends with Japanese-inspired aesthetics.

More of Hanae Mori’s designs can be found at https://www.ibtimes.com/hanae-mori-grande-dame-japanese-fashion-3603198 and https://www.famousfashiondesigners.org/hanae-mori…

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Christian Siriano

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Christian Vincent Siriano (born November 18, 1985) is an American fashion designer and member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).With his edgy, daring, and unexpected designs, Siriano carved out his own place in the highly elite world of fashion design.

After graduating from Baltimore School of Arts, Siriano studied at American Intercontinental University.He was awarded an internship with Vivienne Westwood, and later with the Alexander McQueen Studio.

Siriano first gained attention after winning the fourth season of American design competition show Project Runway in 2007, becoming the series’ youngest winner at 22.The designer is known for whimsical and show-stopping designs, full and bold with a tinge of fantasy.His collections are aimed at both high-end and more mainstream customers, proving he is one of the fiercest and most inventive designers of his generation.Siriano has been a strong advocate for body positivity and inclusivity in the fashion industry, regularly featuring models of various sizes, shapes, and backgrounds in his runway shows.

More of Christian Siriano’s innovative designs can be found at https://christiansiriano.com/.

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Iris van Herpen

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Iris van Herpen is a Dutch fashion designer known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture and craftsmanship.Van Herpen graduated from the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem in 2006 and interned at Alexander McQueen in London.By combining handcraft, technology and the art of couture, van Herpen curates progressive and experimental fashion experiences with a highly conceptual approach.Van Herpen burst onto the scene in 2007 with her unusual approach to applying innovative 3D printing techniques to her clothing designs.Most notably, the Dutch designer was one of the first to present 3-D-printed dresses in both static and flexible forms on the runway, in a collaboration with the Belgian company Materialise.Fusing together technology and Haute Couture craftsmanship, Van Herpen’s unusual approach to design has earned her a unique and loyal following.

Van Herpen works in collaboration with experts from other industries in the fields of science, technology and architecture.This allows her to bring together her expertise in fashion with other areas to create something truly unique.

Each creation makes such an overwhelmingly beautiful and creative statement.

More of Iris van Herpen‘s unique designs can be found at https://www.irisvanherpen.com/ and Iris Van Herpen.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Koos Van Den Akker

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Koos Van Den Akker (1939 – 2015) was a Dutch-born fashion designer who lived and worked in New York City.

Van Den Akker was recognized for his Koos fashion label (1969-2015) which featured flamboyant idiosyncratic garments adorned with Koos’ unique collage work and cuts.

Born Koos Van Den Akker in The Hague, the Netherlands, Koos taught himself to sew using a simple sewing machine and his first creation was a dress made from a white bed sheet for his sister.At just age 15, Van Den Akker bypassed the 18-year-old requirement age to attend the Royal Academy of Art where he studied fashion and made window displays for a department store until he was 18.

After two years, Van Den Akker voyaged to Paris to design window displays for the renowned Galeries Lafayette, but realizing he needed more formal training, enrolled in L’Ecole Guerre Lavigne (l’Ecole Supérieure des Arts et techniques de la Mode, Esmod) which was located in the same building as the Christian Dior workrooms.

Christian Dior picked Van Den Akker as an apprentice, and, after three years, Van Den Akker moved back to the Netherlands and started his own business  in The Hague where he slept in a small room in the back.For Van Den Akker,  fabric was always the focal point. Not just a single luxury fabric, but a riotous mix of fabric patches and panels combined into a surprisingly unified whole.Though the designer rejected the haute couture emphasis on the relationship between the body and garment, his painstaking and detail-oriented design process revealed his training in the haute couture.

Each piece was hand-cut and manipulated on the foundation until the desired effect was achieved, and after each element of the collage was basted to the foundation, applique, quilting, slashing, bias tape and other techniques or embellishments were used to create additional texture and visual appeal.By his obvious love of fabric, color, and form, Van Den Akker was able to translate those emotions into incredible and breathtaking garments.

More of Koos Van Den Akker’s creations can be found at https://www.threadsmagazine.com/2015/02/05/tribute-to-koos-van-den-akker and http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/To-Vi/Van-Den-Akker-Koos.html.