Unique Talents of Notable Fashion Designers

Fashion designers works in many ways, and works full-time with creative designs, for one fashion as in-house designers which they owns the designs and bear the designer’s label or signature. Some fashion designers works alone or work as a team, while fashion designers who work for themselves are called freelance designers, selling their designs to fashion houses, directly to shops, or to clothing manufacturers. Some fashion designers are self-employed and design for individual clients. Some high-fashion designers serve to high class garment shops or famous department stores, where the designers create original clothing or branded fashion designer’s signatures as well and follow popular fashion trends. Most of the popular fashion designers, create garments for apparel manufacturers, creating designs of men’s, women’s, and children’s fashions for the mass market. Some designers sketch their ideas on paper, while some designers cover with fabric on a dress form, and soon  they are satisfied with the fit of the toile or muslin, the designer will consult a professional pattern maker,who work very precise and painstaking, then makes the finished product, of the pattern out of a drawing board or through a computerized system. Soon a garment’s sample is created, a chosen model will fit the garment and tested to make sure it is an operational outfit. In the 19th century, Fashion design started by the first fashion designer, Charles Frederick Worth, also called the Father of Haute couture and first designer to create his own label into the garments he created.

Charles Frederick Worth (born October 13, 1825 – died March 10, 1895) was an English fashion designer whose creations were produced in Paris and considered the Father of Haute Couture or high fashion. Charles Worth is married to Marie Vernet Worth, and the couple have two sons, Gaston and Jean-Philippe.  Worth met Otto Bobergh, a wealthy Swede, who was willing to finance his business venture and opened the dressmaking establishment of Worth and Bobergh in 1858. During the Franco-Prussina War, Worth and Bobergh shut down their business and re-opened as the House of Worth without Bobergh in 1871. Worth took his two sons, Gaston (founder of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture) and Jean-Philippe, into his house of high fashion or couture house which continued to flourish after his death in 1895. The French house of high fashion called House of Worth specializes in haute couture, ready-to-wear clothes and perfumes. The House of Worth continued to operate under his descendents until 1952 but finally closed in 1956. The brand of the House of Worth was revived by entrepreneurs Dilesh and Hitesh Mehta in 1999.

1)  Willi Smith

Willi Donnell Smith (February 29, 1948 – April 17, 1987) was an American fashion designer, who was acknowledge at the time of his death as one of the most successful young African-American designers in the industry. The Williwear Ltd. is a company owned by Willi Smith, which sold $25 million worth of clothing a year, and was famous for his creation and designing the wedding dress worn by a fictional character of  Mary Jane Watson when she married Peter Parker, the 1987 comic book and comic strip character Spider Man, and the suits for founder and principal of ESI Design, Edwin Schlossberg and his groomsmen, in his 1986′s wedding to Caroline Kennedy. In 1985, Willi Smith also designed the Christo‘s workers uniforms wrapping of the Pont Neuf, oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, and clothes for 1987 film School Daze’s film director, producer, writer, and actor, Spike Lee. Willi Smith worked with several fashion designers and artists during his time at Williwear Ltd. such as fashion designer and founder of Antthony Mark Hankins Inc. in 1994, Antthony Mark Hankins, James Mischka, Julia Santos-Solomon, American artist Jon Coffelt, John Bartlett and American hairstylist Andre Walker among many others. Smith partnered with Jhane Barnes, American designer of clothing, textiles, eyeglasses, carpets and furniture, and the owner of the Jhane Barnes fashion design company, on some of Smith’s earlier shows. Willi Smith was openly gay. Smith died at the age of 39, on April 17, 1987, after contracting Shigella (one of the leading bacterial that cause severe diarrhea) and pneumonia while on a trip to India, apparently as a result of AIDS. Smith himself didn’t know or suspected he had the disease, but during his last days before his sudden death, those around him knew he was fragile. Most thought it was just that Smith had pushed himself so hard, being such a perfectionist with his work. John Bartlett, who was working with Smith at the time of his untimely death, took over the operations with design until 1990.  In 1973, Willi Smith, along with his sister, African American actress and model, Toukie A. Smith (born Doris Smith) long-term partner of actor Robert De Niro, with whom she has two sons, founded their own clothing company that soon failed. Smith continued to design and in 1976 he partnered into business with Laurie Mallet and called the company Williwear Ltd. 

2)  L’Wren Scott

L’Wren Scott former name known as Luann Bambrough, born April 28, 1964 – died March 17, 2014, was a former American fashion model, fashion ions designer and costume designer. Scott was adopted by a Mormon parents, Ivan and Lula Bambrough, and named her Luann Bambrough and raised her in Roy, Utah. At the age of 12, Scott has already reached 6 ft 0 in or 1.83 m in height. Scott has a relationship with her longtime partner Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stone, until Scott’s untimely death. Photographer Bruce Weber, spotted Scott at a Calvin Klein hosiery photo shoot, and influenced her to be a fashion model. After graduation from high school, Scott left Utah for Paris to pursue a modelling career, and changed her name from Luann to L’Wren. Scott worked for Thierry Mugler and Chanel while in Paris, as well as model for renowned photographers Guy Bourdin, David Bailey and Jean-Paul Goude. In the early 1990s, Scott moved to California and established herself as a stylist, in collaboration with photographer Herb Ritts, and later with Helmut Newton, Karl Lagerfeld and Mario Sorrenti. One of her work was an ad campaign for Elizabeth Taylor’s White Diamonds top selling celebrity fragrance in the world. Scott’s design and collections which presented a line of black dresses and her famous Headmistress dress worn by Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Amy Adams, Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Naomi Campbell, Reese Witherspoon, Christina Hendricks, Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock and Uma Thurman. Scott’s business went down for some time, and suddenly pulled out her London Fashion Week show, in February 2014, citing reasons of the“production.” L’Wren  Scott was found dead around 10 a.m. by hanging at her apartment at 200, 11th Avenue, Chelsea, Manhattan, on March 17, 2014, a month before her 50th birthday. Her long time partner, Mick Jagger, 70, who began dating Scott in 2001 and is on tour in Australia with the Stones, was shocked when he learned the horrible news. It was reported that in 2010, the company was $3.06 million in debt and reached $5.89 million by 2012 as the records show.

3)  “Bob” Mackie

Robert Gordon “Bob” Mackie born March 24, 1940, is an American fashion designer, known for his entertainment icons’ costume designs,  such as Carol Burnett (for The Carol Burnett Show for 11 years), Cher, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Liza Minneli, Tina Turner, Joan Rivers and Mitzi Gaynor. Bob Mackie is also known as the sultan of sequins, or the rajah of rhinestones, because of his imaginative and sparkling costume designs. Mackie is also known for his Barbie dolls collector’s edition exclusive dress designs. Mackie married Lulu Porter or Marianne Wolford, a singer, actress, and later an acting teacher on March 14, 1960. Together they had an only child, a son, Robert Gordon Mackie Jr. (aka Robin Mackie), born in 1961. Mackie and wife Lulu divorced in 1963, and their only son Robin Mackie, a makeup artist, died in 1994 of an AIDS-related illness. Bob Mackie’s life partner for almost 50 years, costume designer Ray Aghayan, whom Mackie had worked with as an assistant, on projects at least through the 1970s, as well as having separate clients. In early 1993 Bob Mackie was over a million dollars in debt by early 1993, forcing him to sell his $850,000 Beverly Hills mansion and Los Angeles studio. Costume designer  Gorgen Ray Aghayan, born Raymond G. Aghayan on July 28, 1928 in Tehran, Iran – died on October 10, 2011, won an in 1967 Emmy Award with his partner Bob Mackie, for his work in Alice Through the Looking Glass, nominated for an Academy Award for Costume Design three times for his work in the 1970′s Gaily, Gaily, in 1973′s Lady Sings the Blues and the 1976′s Funny Lady. Ray Aghayan died on October 10, 2011 at his home in Los Angeles, California. Ray Aghayan became a naturalized US citizen.

5)  Tom Ford

Thomas Carlyle “Tom” Ford born August 27, 1961 is an American fashion designer and film director, who rose to international fame for his turnaround of Gucci and the creation of the Tom Ford label before directing A Single Man, the Oscar-nominated film. Tom Ford moved to Perry Ellis in 1988, where he knew both Robert McDonald, the company’s president, and its designer Marc Jacobs and worked for the company for two years, but became tired of working in American fashion. Ford decided to enter the world of European fashion, a faltering luxury goods company, Gucci, was seeking to strengthen its women’s ready-to-wear presence as a part of its new reformed brand. According to the company’s creative director, Dawn Mello, during those time, “no one would dream of wearing Gucci”. Mello then hired Tom Ford, as the brand’s chief women’s ready-to-wear designer in 1990 and he worked eighteen-hour days. Ford launched a line of menswear, beauty, eyewear, and accessories in 2006 after leaving Gucci, and Dominico De Sole became chairman of the Tom Ford label. Tom Ford is openly gay, and since 1986, he is leaving together with his long time partner, journalist Richard Buckley who was the former Editor in Chief of Vogue Hommes International. In 1989, Richard Buckley was diagnosed with cancer and after his recovery they moved from New York to Italy. The couple announced the birth of their son, Alexander John Buckley Ford, in September 2012. Ford and Buckley owned three smooth fox terriers, which his first dog, called John, lived fourteen years, and appeared on the runway and in some photos with Ford. They own recently  Angus 6 years old and India, who four years old, and these fox terriers appeared in A Single Man, Ford’s movie.

6)  Alex Perry

Alex Perry born Alexandros Pertsinidis, is an Australian fashion designer, particularly noted for his designs in women’s wear. Alex Perry’s father migrated to Australia, while his mother was Australian born from a Greek immigrant parents and a working-class family in Sydney. Alex Perry has an older brother, Lee. In 1992 Perry opened his first atelier or studio (artist’s or worker’s workroom), creating gowns, corsets and sheaths in suburban Kensington, where Vogue Australia,photographed these gowns, and noted as Alex Perry trademark signature in his first editorial shoot. Perry’s runway shows have featured models such as Canadian model Linda Evangelista, , Australian model, brand ambassador, fashion designer and actress Megan Gale, Australian model and one of the Victoria’s Secret Angels Miranda Kerr,Australian model and actress Kate Fischer, Australian-born actress and model, now based in New York City Alyssa Sutherland, Italian-Australian model Nicole Trunfio, and English model and actress Lily Cole. In 1998, Alex Perry launched his first ready-to-wear collection, which his Couture signatures of the ready-to-wear collection are boned corsetry, hand ruching and sexy, feminine silhouettes. Alex Perry is the only judge to appear in all seven cycles of the Australia’s Next Top Model reality television series. Perry has appeared as a contestant in 2009′s Celebrity MasterChef Australia and in 2010s Talkin ’bout your Generation. Perry took over as mentor on Project Runway Australia  Season 3 in July 2011.  Perry’s official role as a judge on Australia’s Next Top Model in September 2011, he compared contestant Alissandra Moone‘s body to fat or chubby. These comment from Perry was noted by media commentators as a conclusion that the underweight teenager was fat. After widespread judgment, Perry defended himself commented “did nothing wrong” and claiming his comment was due to Moone’s posing.

7) Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli born November 15, 1940 is an Italian fashion designer from Florence, and famous for exotic prints designs and for creating the sand-blasted look for jeans. Roberto Cavalli is the father of fashion designer Daniele Cavalli (born 1986). Robert Cavalli made a series of flower prints on knit and caught the attention of major Italian hosiery factories, and invented and patented a printing procedure on leather, and he started creating patchworks of different materials in the early 1970s. Cavalli first introduces these techniques in Paris, and earned his commissions from the famous brands of Hermes and Pierre Cardin. Cavalli presented his first collection at the Salon for Prêt-à-Porter in Paris at age 32, and brought it to the catwalks of the Sala Bianca of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and those of Milano Collezioni, jeans made of printed denim, intarsia leathers, brocade, and wild prints. In 1972, Cavalli opened his first boutique in Saint-Tropez. Cavalli introduced his first sand-blasted jeans in 1994 in Milan and also designs RC Menswear as well as the youth aimed line, men’s wear, women’s wear and accessories, eyewear, watches, jewelry, perfumes, underwear, and beachwear. Cavalli opened his first café-store in Florence, revised it with his signature animal prints in 2002. In 1977, Roberto Cavalli was a judge at the Miss Universe pageant where his future wife, Eva Duringer, was a contestant, who represented Austria and won second place, and the winner in this pageant was Miss Trinidad and Tobago, Janelle Commissing, the first Black Miss Universe. In 1980, Cavalli married Eva Duringer. Cavalli have five children, Tommaso and Christiana from his first marriage, and Robert, Rachele, and Daniele from his second marriage. Roberto Cavalii returned to the role of men’s creative director in January 2014, from his son, Daniele Cavalli, starting with the 2014 fall collection. On January 24, 2014, Gianluca Brozzetti (CEO) and Carlo Di Biagio (COO) announced they were leaving the fashion brand.

8)  Jenny Kee

The Australian fashion designer, Jenny Kee was born in Bondi, to a Cantonese father and half Italian descent mother, on January 24, 1947. Kee started as a fashion model as her career at one time featuring an ads as the face of Canadian Airlines. Kee was married to Australian artist lead singer Michael Ramsden with the 1960s musical group Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, for 21 years. In 1965 Jenny Kee relocated to London and was involved in the Swinging London and underground scene, where she sold ethnic and retro clothes, cast-off Dior clothes, and Indian embroideries to a hippy clients. Kee claimed she was romantically involved with John Lennon during her interview for Talking Heads TV series. She returned to Australia in 1972, and opened the Flamingo Park, a fashion boutique, and Kee was approached by fashion and textile designer Linda Jackson, and formed a partnership, creating bright colorful outfits and pure Australian wool knitted jumpers with faunal and flora designs. Some designs are a knitted koala jumper that was owned by the late Lady Di (Diana, Princess of Wales). The waratah flower featured strongly in her designs. During this time, Kee and Jackson collaborate with artists such as David McDiarmid and Peter Tully, who hand-painted fabrics for Jackson’s clothing and provided jewellery to complement her outfits. The store was located in the Strand Arcade in the central business district in Sydney, but closed in 1995. After the death of Kee’s second husband, she became interested in Tibetan Buddhism. Kee’s partner, Linda Jackson was born in 1950, an Australian artist, fashion designer and retailer. Linda Jackson has traveled throughout outback Australia, living and working with Aboriginal communities. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Jackson’s greatest influenced were Peter Tully, David McDiarmid and Clarence Chai, and was later influenced by her experience of the Australian outback and the work of native Australian artists, and also by the traditional Kenya‘s beading.

9)  Monah Li

Monah Li is an a Viennese-born American fashion designer based in Los Angeles, noted for her feminine, deconstructed clothes, and is credited by most fashion writers with her famous post-modern Bohemian chic look and with starting trend of up-cycling and re-purposing vintage dresses, cashmere sweaters, skirts and slips. Monah Li’s dresses, worn by celebrities such Christina Ricci, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman and Ione Skye, Courtney Love, Cameron Diaz, Stev Nicks, Barbra Streisand, Gina Gershon, Liv Tyler, Goldie Hawn, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Madonna. Monah Li also designed the wedding gown of actress Alyssa Milano. Li has also designed for bebe stores as the head designer and freelance designer in the Los Angeles office. Monah Li’s own labels were Monah Li, Monah Li Couture and Monahmour, emphasizing her romantic, eclectic silhouettes designed to be worn by women of all sizes. Monah Li’s use of over-dyed silk, velvet and satin with lace insets, known as the rich Bohemian look, have made her one of the most knocked-off designers in her genre, and she also considers normal and large size models over the traditional thin models in her fashion shows. Li received a settlement in December 1999, from Italian designer Patty Shelabarger, who had offered to represent Li’s line in Europe, but”removed the labels from Li’s clothing and sewed in her own label.” Monah Li published and wrote about fashion, and more recently her recovery from nineteen years of eating disorder called bulimia,with the support of friends and her interest in belly dancing. Manny Mashouf, Bebe CEO and founder, told the Los Angeles Times, that Li’s dresses are highly designed in terms of seams and details. In 2008, Monah Li and her author/screenwriter boyfriend were married in 2008 which ended in divorce in 2010 and returned to designing, with a fashion show featuring her classic looks in March 2011. Li also designed again for bebe for a short time, then start to sell her own designs at a Los Feliz boutique owned by designer Tiziana. Monah Li has been married three times and has a grown daughter by her second marriage.

10)  Dean and Dan Caten

Dean and Dan Caten born Dean and Dan Catenacci in 1964, in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in the Willowdale area, are identical twin brothers, both fashion designers, founders and owners of DSQUARED², an international fashion house. Dean and Dan Caten, are the youngest of nine children.The Caten twin brothers moved to Milan, Italy in 1991, where they worked as designers for the house of Gianni Versace, and Diesel denim brand, the latter of which funded and launched their namesake brand. In 1994 they introduced their men’s collection and in 2003, they launched a women’s collection and a men’s underwear collection. Dean and Dan Caten, design men’s and women’s apparel, men’s and women’s footwear, fragrances and cosmetics. Their designs and collections were worn by celebrities such as Britney Spears, Madonna, Tokio Hotel‘s lead singer Bill Kaulitz, Justin Timberlake, Rciky Martin, Nicolas Cage and Lenny Kravitz.The first DSquared² flagship was opened in Milan’s fashion district in June 2007, also opened in Athens, Capri, Istanbul, Kiev, Cannes, Singapore, Paris, Nicosia and Hong Kong. The Catens signed an agreement to design sunglasses with Marcolin, an Italian sunglasses and spectacle manufacturer in March 2008.

11)  Lloyd Klein

Lloyd Klein born February 15, 1967, is a French couturier, born in Montreal, Canada and currently based in Los Angeles. Lloyd Klein was born to French parents and was raised in Paris, France and he is the youngest of four children. Klein was inspired by observing a Givenchy runway show and subsequently began a friendship with the respected designer, and developed a keen interest in the work of Yves St. Laurent, Jacques Fath and Halston. Klein became the head designer in his age twenties, for Maison Mme.Grès after two seasons of presenting his work on the Paris Haute Couture runways, and was one among the talented fashion artists in Paris and among the most well paid fashion designers during that time, with a salary that reached 150,000 FRF per month plus an annual fee of 12 million FRF. In 1999, Klein continued with his Lloyd Klein Couture signature label. In February 7, 2004, one early foggy morning, while en route to Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, France bound for a flight to his scheduled flight to John F. Kennedy Airport, New York to present his seventh runway collection for Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week, the Klein’s chauffeured town car was sideswiped and damaged by a drunk driver, where his car was one of three in a caravan,including his four person entourage, his mother, Mrs Klein, who sustained severe injury, who was sitting beside the designer and his new seasonal collection. All three cars were involved in the devastating collision which claimed two lives including Klein’s driver, and injured six people. Lloyd Klein was the most injured survivor, where he suffered serious damage to his face and upper body and have to undergo a complete facial reconstructive surgery following a three-day induced coma. Due to his gown collections, which became the favorite of several celebrities, Lloyd Klein is often referred as a Celebrity Designer for personal appearances on the red carpeted events. In 2007, Lloyd Klein, received an unexpected phone call on Father’s Day in Beverly Hills, from Switzerland, a call from a 20-year-old man who introduced himself as Klein’s son. According to his son, when his father passed away unexpectedly, she told him that his biological father was Lloyd Kelin, and started to search on the Internet about his biological father. Lloyd Klein x Ivory + Mason Eyewear was launched in August 2013, for retail as a collaboration between retro eyewear manufacturer Ivory + Mason and Lloyd Klein .

12)  Gaby Aghion

Gaby Aghion born Gabrielle Hanoka, born in 1921 in Alexandria, Egypt, is a French fashion designer, founder of the French fashion house Chloé, and conceived the phrase prêt-à-porter or Ready-to-wear. Aghion moved to Paris, France in 1945, and founded Chloé in 1952 with a  dream of new concept of creating luxury ‘prêt-à-porter’ (Ready-To-Wear). The house of Chloé continued to run by Gaby Aghion until 1985, when the house of Chloé was bought-out by former Dunhill Holdings now known as the Compagnie Financière Richemont SA group. Gaby Aghion joined forces with Jacques Lenoir in 1953, which he ran the business side and Aghion ran the creative side, and both, Lenoir and Aghion, put on the first Chloé show in 1956 at a breakfast at the Café de Flore, the extensive selection of items of young Parisians of the 1940s and 1950s. Gaby Aghion hired German fashion designer, artist, and photographer based in Paris, Karl Lagerfeld during his early career, (he was the head designer and creative director of his own label fashion house and the fashion house Chanel as well as the Italian house Fendi) and other emerging fashion designers. Philippe Aghion , Gaby’s son recalls Karl Lagerfeld coming to the company in the mid-1960s, “When he koined the company from house of French fashion designer and founder of the Jean Patou brand, Karl was a shy individual.

13)  Amsale Aberra

Amsale Aberra professionally known as Amsale (pronounced Ahm-sah’-leh), born in 1954, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to father, Aberra Moltor, Vice Minister for National Community Development in Ethiopia and Tsadale Assamnew,a housewife. Amsale is an Ethiopian born American fashion designer and entrepreneur, which her main field of design is creation of wedding gowns, and her flagship store is located on Madison Avenue, New York City, and her gowns are also sold at fine bridal boutiques such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. Amsale is a member of the CFDA or Council of Fashion Designers of America and Fashion Institute of Technology Trustee. Beside her bridal gown designs, Amsale Aberra has expanded to her regular Amsale line, the Amsale Blue label collections of luxurious gowns that range from $3,000 to $12000 in price, The Little White Dress, bridesmaid dresses, and elegant cocktail dresses. Amsale Aberra created the Kenneth Pool label in 1003 and began designing a line of dresses that features with dramatic ball gowns, luxurious fabrics and intricate beadwork. Amsale acquired the 30 year old Christos company in 2005, and created her Christos gowns, and create a more romantic clothing using French laces and silk organza. In 2006, she was the third bridal designer to open a store at Madison Ave. ABC purchased an Amsale Aberra bridal gown in 2007 for television series Grey’s Anatomy third season finale. Her gowns creation have been featured in several films and on television, where most celebrities are fan of Amsale Aberra’s gowns. Celebrities wore Aberra’s creations such as Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Selma Blair, Salma Hayek, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Heather Graham, Lisa Kudrow, Katherine Heigl, Kim Basinger, Heidi Klum and many others.On June 2012, Hilaria Baldwin’s wedding gown was designed by Amsale Aberra on her wedding to actor Alec Baldwin. Amsale Aberra has been included two times on Ebony magazine’s list of the influential African Americans Power 150. Amsale Aberra is married to film executive Neil Brown, and together they have a daughter named, Rachel, and they are currently residing in Manhattan.

14)  Marc Bohan

Marc Roger Maurice Louis Bohan was born August 22, 1926, in Paris, France, best known as a French fashion designer, also known for his 30 year career at the house of Dior. Bohan worked as British fashion designer, Edward Molyneux‘s assistant in 1949. He also worked as a designer for Madeleine de Rauch in 1952, before opening his own salon in Paris and produced one collection in 1953, and was offered a job in 1954 at French fashion designer and founder of the Jean Patou brand, designing the haute couture collection, where Bohan stayed until 1958. Bohan designed for the Christian Dior,London line from 1958 until September 1960, where he was promoted as Dior’s creative director to replaced Yves Saint Laurient when he was called up for military service. Marc Bohan’s classic pieces are now found in museum collections around the world. Bohan left Dior in 1989, and joined for the house of Norman Hartnell in London, where he worked for the label until 1992. Since that time, Bohan has designed under his own name, and also designed for Princess Grace of Monaco, Lynn Sakowitz Wyatt, Houston socialite and philanthropist, and American socialite and philanthropist Betsy Bloomingdale  (widow of businessman Alfred S. Bloomingdale,(an heir to the Bloomingdale’s department store). In 1967, Princess Grace supported Bohan by opening the Baby Dior boutique. Bohan was chosen to design the wedding dress of Silvia Sommerlath in her 1976 wedding to King Carl Gustaf of Sweden. Bohan also designed the wedding gown of Princess Caroline of Monaco, two years later, for her 1978 wedding to Parisian banker, Philippe Junot. Bohan’s designs had them adapted by American fashion designer Chez Ninon and Oleg Cassini (born April 11, 1913 – died March 17, 2006), renowned fashion designer for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, which the famous First Lady’s Jackie Look was highly influential in American design. Marc Bohan was first married to, Dominique Gaborit in 1950, she died in 1962. Bohan married second wife, Huguette Rinjonneau, and together they had one daughter, Marie-Anne. Bohan owned a home at a restored 18th-century country house in Burgundy historical region of east-central France.

15)  André Courrèges

André Courrèges born March 9, 1923 in Pau, is a French fashion designer, known for his ultra-modern designs. André Courrèges went to Paris to work at the house of fashion design Jeanne Lafaurie at the age of 25 after studying to be a civil engineer. After few months, Courrèges went to the renowned Spanish fashion designer in Balenciaga. Both Courrèges and British fashion designer Mary Quant, who took credit for the creation of miniskirt and hot pants. Courrèges opened his Maison de Couture with his little white dress and a trouser suit in 1961, and in 1964, he launched his Space Age collection. Courrèges built his dresses rather than designed them, and the shapes of his designed clothes were geometric such as squares, trapezoids, triangles. The fashion look included boots, goggles and hems three inches above the knees. André Courrèges uses Poly(vinyl chloride (PVC) clothing in his collections, and the colors he used were primary, metallic, white, red, yellow, and many more. He launched a new perfume, in 1996 and, in 1967, women began wearing his ‘second-skin’ all-over tights, and this idea is still in vogue nowadays. Courrèges’ creations were sweater pants, parkas, tennis dresses,beach clothes and mechanic-style coveralls. He also created with a glow-in-the-dark jersey dress and an array of swimsuits, held together only by thin strings on the sides. He continued with his bright acid colors and geometrical designs, where high-street retailers copied his designs, who toned down the ideas to better suit everyday wear. After he introduced his space-age collection in 1964, the market was flooded with plastic skirts and jackets, angular seaming, crash helmets, white boots, and goggles. Courrèges was influenced by modern architecture, modern technology, new fabrics, in art and design. Several fashion designers followed a similar path, as Coco Chanel, who worked with and knew many modern artists and Mary Quant, whose career paralled Courrèges in some ways, and was the one who pushed these ideas to the extreme, making some designs a memorable designs.

Claude Montana

Claude Montana born in Paris in 1949, a French fashion designer, his first fashion show was held in 1976, and he founded his company in 1979 known as The House of Montana, and went bankrupt in 1997. Claude Montana was an avid colorist and favored blue, red, metallic, and neutral tones, in luxurious materials such as cashmere, leather and silk. In 1979, Montana opened his own company The House of Montana and he became a darling of 1980s high fashion along with fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who also favored aggressive shapes and vibrant colors. Montana designed haute couture collections for the House of Lanvin from 1990 to 1992, for which he was awarded two consecutive Golden Thimble awards. Montana’s bold designs creations, were financially disastrous for the house, and created a total loss estimated of $50 million, and he was ultimately replaced by Dominique Morlotti. Montana then designed in 1999, an affordable line of clothing for women, named Montana BLU, which was inspired by his favorite themes but modified to fit the style of sportswear and city wear. Fashion designer   Alexander McQueen praised and honored Montana’s creation many times in his collections, were both shared a love for construction and high quality in fashion designs.  On July 21, 1993, Claude Montana married model Wallis Franken on July 21, 199, which was a marriage for convenience and friendship, because Montana was openly homosexual. Montana and wife, Franken, has the same age,and had been friends for 18 years, and she had served as his model for his fashion innovations. Wallis Franken had already two daughters from a previous marriage, and a granddaughter. Montana’s wife, Wallis Franken died in June 1996, after falling from three stories from their Paris apartmen, and her death was ruled as suicide.

16)  Paco Rabanne

Francisco “Paco” Rabaneda Cuervo, more commonly known as Paco Rabanne born February 18, 1934 is a Spanish fashion designer who became known as l‘enfant terrible or terrible child of the 1960s world of French fashion. Paco Cuervo or Paco Rabanne, began collaborating with international company operating in fashion and fragrance sectors, Puig in 1968, which resulted in the company marketing Rabanne’s perfumes, and built his perfume company in 1976, in Chatres, France. Paco Rabanne’s men’s perfume brand registration was forfeited in Brazil in 1980s, due to a court judgement that his perfume brand was never officially present in Brazil despite widely advertisements and a strong local awareness. The court’s reason was that because the Puig’s local distibutor was smuggling perfume into Brazil, thus, the company could not show import duties proof of payment,and it took six or seven years to recover his brand name in Brazil. Rabanne started his career in fashion by creating jewelry for Givenchy, Dior and Balenciaga (a French fashion house founded by Spanish fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga) and in 1966, he founded his own fashion house. Rabanne used for his designs, unconventional material such as metal, paper, and plastic for his outlandish and flamboyant designs. David Peck, a Houston based fashion designer, worked for Rabanne in Paris before launching his eponymous collection. Paco Rabanne is famous for his costume designs for film celebrities, such as in 1968 Barbarella, a 1968 science-fiction movie, French singer and actress Françoise Hardy was a big fan of Paco Rabanne’s designs and also popular French singer Mylène Farmer continues to bring the extravagance of Paco Rabanne to her live concerts. Paco Rabanne has an interest in paranormal phenomena, and became infamous for his false prediction of the a space station, operating in a low orbit of the Earth from 1986 to 2001, owned at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia known as Mir, Russian space station falling on Paris in 1999.

  Thierry Mugler

Thierry Mugler is a French fashion designer and creator of numerous perfumes. Mugler moved to Paris, France at the age of 24, and he began designing clothes for Gudule Parisian boutique. Mugler, was working as a freelance designer at age 26, and he began to design for various large ready-to-wear fashion houses in Paris, Milan, London and Barcelona. Mugler created his first personal collection called Café de Paris in 1973, which the style of the collection was both sophisticated and urban. A fashion editor known as Melka Tréanton, helped launched his career, she asked Mugler to show his work in Tokyo, Japan, for an event organized by Shiseido in 1976. In 1993, Mugler created the famous black dress worn by Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal movie. Thierry Mugler also directs short films, advertising films and video clips, and directed 1992s Too Funky video for George Michael and Robert Altman. Mugler designs costumes regularly for musical comedies, concerts, operas and the theater. Mugler’s first perfume was introduced in 1992 called Angel, and also directed the first advertising film for Alien, one of his fragrances. Thierry Mugler worked as artistic advisor to singer Beyoncé in 2009. Italian-Japanese director and fashion editor Nicola Formichetti became the new Creative Director of the Thierry Mugler brand in September 2010, and later changed the brand name to MUGLER, removing the first name Thierry, and in January 2011, he launched the brand’s first menswear collection. Nicola Formichetti is openly gay. In April 2013, Formichetti announced that he and the fashion house will be parting ways after over two years working as MUGLER’s creative director. In December 2013, House of Mugler announced that David Koma stylized as DΛVID KOMΛ (a Georgian fashion designer, born David Komakhidze), is the new creative director.

17)   Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen CBE, born March 17, 1969 –died on February 11, 2010, was a British fashion designer and couturier, worked as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and for founding his own company, the Alexander McQueen label. He achieved four British Designer of the Year awards (1996, 1997, 2001 and 2003) and the 2003 CFDA’s International Designer of the Year award. McQueen worked for Koji Tatsuno at the age of twenty, before moving to Milan, Italy and worked for Italian fashion designer, Romeo Gigli. McQueen designed wardrobe for David Bowie‘s tours in 1996-1997, and also for Mikhail Gorbachev and Prince Charles while he was working at Savile Row. McQueen’s designs became known for using skulls in his designs, and a scarf bearing the motif became popular and was copied around the world and he was the first fashion designer using Indian models in London. In 1996, McQueen was appointed as head designer at Givenchy in 1996 by Bernard Arnault chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LVMH Moët Hennessy • Louis Vuitton S.A. (LVMH) since 1989, succeeding British fashion designer John Galliano. McQueen insulted the founder, Bernard Arnault by calling him irrelevant upon his arrival at Givenchy, thus, his first couture collection with Givenchy was a failure, even in October 1997, McQueen telling Vogue that the collection was crap. Although McQueen toned down his designs at Givenchy, he continued to desire for his rebellious touch, that caused controversy with a show in 1998 involving double amputee model Aimee Mullins walking with long steps down the catwalk with perplexity carved wooden legs. Alexander McQueen was openly gay. McQueen had a marriage ceremony with his partner, documentary filmmaker, George Forsyth, on a yacht in an island in Catalan, Ibiza, in 2000, but their marriage was unofficial, because same sex marriage in Spain was not legal. McQueen and Forsyth ended their relationship a year later but they maintained a close friendship. In May 2007, McQueen caught media attention, when rumors spread that there was a rift between McQueen and the suicide of international style icon Isabella Blow on May 7, 2007. But McQueen denied the rumors of misunderstanding between him and the late Isabella Blow. On the morning of February 11, 2010, McQueen was found dead by his housekeeper hanging using his brown belt at his home on Green Street, London W1. On February 17, 2010, the Westminster Coroner’s Court was told that a post-mortem examination found that McQueen’s death was due to asphyxiation and hanging, and on April 28, 2010, McQueen’s death was officially recorded as suicide. Prior to McQueen’s death, he had been diagnosed with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, took a drug overdose, findings by coroner Dr Paul Knapman, a significant cocaine level in his blood samples, sleeping pills and tranquilizers. It was also revealed that before his death, he had suicide attempts such as he had slashed his wrists with a ceremonial dagger and a meat cleaver.

  Isabella Blow

Isabella “Issie” Blow, born Isabella Delves Broughton, on November 19, 1958 in Marylebone, London, England, eldest daughter of military officer Major Sir Evelyn Delves Broughton and his second wife Helen Mary Shore, a barrister or a lawyer. Blow was an English magazine editor. model of Irish hat designer Philip Treacy based in London, and is credited with discovering the models Stella Tennant, Sophie Dahl and fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Blow had two sisters, Julia and Lavinia, and a brother, John, who died at age two, by drowning  in the family’s swimming pool. In 1972, Isabella Blow’s mother left their family when she was age 14 and their parents divorce two years later. Isabella Blow discovered fashion designer, Alexander McQueen and purchased his entire collection for ₤5,000, paying it off in weekly ₤100 installments. Blow discovered Sophie Dahl and launched her modelling career. Blow was the fashion director of Tatler and fashion consultant for American chemical company Du Pont Lycra, Lacoste and Austrian producer of luxury cut crystal, Swarovski. Blow had become depressed and was reportedly anguished over her inability to “find a home in a world she influenced” and became upset because Alexander McQueen did not take her along when McQueen sold his brand to Gucci, according to Blow’s close friend, Daphne Guinness. It was Isabella Blow who brokered the deal in which Gucci purchased McQueen’s label, according to 2002 interview with Tamsin Blanchard. Money problems are also one of her other pressures, as in 1994, Isabella Blow was disinherited by her father and her infertility. Isabella Blow was first married to Nicholas Taylor in 1981, and divorced in 1983. In 1989, Isabella was married to Detmar Hamilton Blow, in Gloucester Cathedral. Blow and her husband had unsuccessfully tried in vitro fertilization eight times, in an effort to have a child. In 2004, Isabella and Detmar Blow separated. Detmar Blow have an affair with society editor of British Harper’s Bazaar, Stephanie Theobald, the society editor of British, while his estranged wife, Blow, entered into a liaison with a gondolier she met in Venice. Isabella Blow was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began undergoing elctroshock therapy, during the time of their separation. Isabella and Detmar Blow were reconciled after 18 months of separation. Blow was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and became depressed over her cancer diagnosis and her waning celebrity status. Blow attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills in 2006, and again attempted suicide later that year by jumping from the Hammersmith Flyover, which resulted in her breaking both ankles. Blow made several more suicide attempts in 2007, by driving her car into the rear of a truck, attempting to obtain horse tranquilizers, trying to drown herself in a lake and by overdosing while on a beach in India. During a weekend house party at Hilles, on May 6, 2007, where the guests included Treacy and his life partner, Stefan Bartlett, Blow announced that she was going shopping, but she was later found collapsed on a bathroom floor by her sister Lavinia and was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, where Blow told the doctor she had drunk the weedkiller Paraquiat. Isabella Blow, died at the hospital the following day, May 7, 2007, and her death was initially reported as being caused by ovarian cancer, however, a coroner later ruled the death a suicide. On May 15, 2007, her funeral was held at Gloucester Cathedral, with her casket, made of willow, was surmounted by one of her Philip Treacy hats instead of a floral tribute.

Daphne Guinness

Daphne Diana Joan Susanna Guinness born November 9, 1967 is a British-Irish fashion designer, an heir by direct descent of Arthur Guinness, the inventor of beer in the 18th-century and still bearing his name. Daphne Guinness father is Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne while her mother was Jonathan’s second wife, Suzanne Lisney (died 2005), of Cadaques, Spain, and Paris. Suzanne Lisney was an artist and model to Man Ray and Dalí. Daphne Guinness has been named as an icon in the world of fashion, and famous fashion designer has been encouraging her to work with them such as Karl Lagerfeld, NARS Cosmetics a Shiseido-owned cosmetics, MAC Cosmetics (formerly Make-up Art Cosmetics stylized as M·A·C,  Akris a Swiss fashion label specializing in luxury goods for women, English fashion designer Gareth Pugh and Irish milliner and designer Philip Treacy. The late fashion designer Alexander McQueen is best known as Guinness’ best friend, and the day of McQueen’s suicide, her scheduled to model for charity on the runway was announced, Guinness veiled herself in mourning. Guinness purchased the entire lot of the wardrobe of the late Isabella Bow in June 2010, also her friend who committed suicide in 2007. The purchase of the lot prior to an auction which was arranged at Christie‘s. The Alexander McQueen exhibits Savage Beauty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in September 2011, more than half a million visitors attended the show. Daphne Guinness was married to Spyros Niarchos, in 1987. Syros Niarchos is the the second son of Stavros Niarchos, the shipping magnate. Guinness and Niarchos had three children, Nicolas Stavros Niarchos born in 1989, Lex Spyros Niarchos born in 1991 and Ines Sophia Niarchos born in 1995. In 1999, the couple divorce and Guinness obtained her settlement, for an undisclosed sum, which was added to her Guinness inheritance. Guinness is residing with her three children in London and Manhattan. Daphne Guinness has been romantically involved with French TV philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy (French public intellectual and author referred often today in France simply as BHL,) for a number of years, and cuts a lone figure at events. The couple have appearing publicly since 2008, more often together. Guinness insists that she is not eccentric because of her weird fashion creations.

18)  Gareth Pugh

Gareth Pugh born August 31, 1981, is an English fashion designer, currently residing and working in London. Gareth Pugh began working at age 14 as a costume designer for the English National Youth Theater. Pugh’s final collection at St. Martins, where he used balloons to emphasize the joints and limbs of the models, a technique that would become one of his trademarks in the future, attracted the attention of the senior fashion editor of Dazed & Confused magazine, who published one of Pugh’s designs on the cover of the magazine.  Anna Wintour, English editor-in-chief of American Vogue, is a notable supporter of Pugh’s designs. Australian singer Kylie Minogue has used over the recent years the unique designs of Pugh, most famously in her Showgirl – The Greatest Hits Tour and Showgirl – The Homecoming Tour. Róisín Murphy, Irish singer, songwriter and record producer, appeared recently in a flamboyantly distinctive outfits by Pugh, in the videoclip promoting her 2007 album Overpowered. Gareth Pugh has opened his first boutique in Hong Kong in 2010. Pugh was described by Style.com as the “latest addition to a long tradition of fashion-as-performance-art that stretches back through designers such as Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood to Leigh Bowery‘s eighties club culture. Klaus Nomi the German countertenor, has also been said as an influence on Pugh. The trademark of Gareth Pugh is his experimentation using often nonsensically shaped sculptors which are wearable to deformed the human body almost beyond recognition. His designs elements in his designs include PVC inflated into voluminous coats, black and white patchwork squares, a transparent thermoplastic or Perspex discs linked like chainmail linked together in a pattern to form a mesh and shiny latex masks and leggings,using materials such as mink, parachute silk, foam footballs, afro-weaved synthetic hair and electrically charged plastic inside his clothing. His 2007′s Spring clothing collection, were catwalk experiments and not available in market. Pugh’s collections can be a commercial success or critical success, but he is slowly shifting to more wearable clothing in his runway shows, and he has partnered with fashion designer Rick Owens and Michele Lamy, who hold a 49% interest in Gareth Pugh’s company.

Leigh Bowery

Leigh Bowery, born March 26, 1961, died on December 31, 1994, was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, pop star, model and fashion designer based in London. During the 1980s to 1990w, Bowery is considered one of the more influential figures in arts and fashion circles in London and New York City, and a big influence to a generation of artists and designers. Bowery’s influence reached the fashion industry, club and impact to the world of art such as, Meadham Kirchhoff, Alexander McQueen, Lucian Freud, Vivienne Westwood, Boy George, Antony and the Johnsons, Lady Gaga, John Galliano, the Scissor Sisters, David LaChapelle, Lady Bunny and numerous Nu-Rave bands and nightclubs in London and New York City which arguably perpetuated his works that are experimental or innovative ideas. Bowery was openly a gay, but he married his longtime companion Nicola Bateman on May 13, 1994 in Tower Hamlets, London. Seven months later, Bowery died on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1994, from an AIDS-related illness at the Middlesex Hospital, Westminster, London. This followed from a five-week battle from his illness, that only a few friends were informed.

19)  John Galliano

John Charles Galliano born as Juan Carlos Antonio Galliano-Guillén, CBE, RDI (born 1960) is a Gibraltar-born British fashion designer worked as the head designer of French fashion companies Givenchy from July 1995 to October 1996, Christian Dior from October 1996 to March 2011, and his own John Galliano label. John Galliano was born in Gibraltar to a Gibraltarian father, Juan Galliano, a plumber and a Spanish mother, Anita, a flamenco teacher, and has two sisters. John Galliano then started his own fashion label alongside long-term collaborators, creative consultant and writer, Amanda Harlech , at that time stylist with American women’s fashion magazine Harpers and Queen now known as Harper’s Bazaar, and leading British milliner based in London, Stephen Jones. Despite his success, John Galliano rented studio space in London, but his talent was not matched by a head for business. Galliano spare his time more on his enjoyment of nightlife in London to extremes. Galliano was bankrupt by 1990, and, after his own label company based in London, failed to ascend his fortunes, he moved to Paris. English fashion journalist, advisor, author, television presenter and fashion designer Susannah Constantine has worked for Galliano, and he has also helped the future success of other designers including shoe designer Patrick Cox. Galliano collaborated with Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter and actress Kylie Minogue in 1991, designing the costumes for her Let’s Get to It Tour. John Galliano was appointed in July 1995, as the designer of Givenchy by Bernard Arnault, owner of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, thus becoming the first British designer to head a French haute couture house. Some designs of Galliano for Givenchy were licensed to Vogue Patterns. LVMH moved Galliano to Christian Dior in October 1996,  replacing Italian designer Gianfranco Ferré, known as the architect of fashion. Dior announced that it had suspended John Galliano on February 25, 2011, following his arrest over an alleged anti-Semitic tirade (is a prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish religion or heritage) in a bar in Paris. John Galliano had his first filmed interview on June 12, 2013, since his dismissal from Christian Dior, and was broadcast on United States television. John Galliano shared his Paris home with Alexis Roche, his long-term boyfriend, a style consultant. John Galliano became a familiar figure on the area of Paris, streets of Le Marais, an area popular for its gay and Jewish communities.

20)   Rudolph Moshammer

Rudolph Moshammer, born September 27, 1940 – died January 14, 2005 when he was murdered at age 64 in the suburb of Grünwald, Munich, Germany. Moshammer was a German fashion designer, he began to design fashion in the 1960s. The Carnaval de Venise in Munich’s high society street, Maximilianstraße one of the city’s four royal avenues was Moshammer’s boutique and his base of exixtence. Moshammer created fashion for rich and famous men made from furs, cashmere and silk, with these creations, Moshammer attracted the high society of Munich and Germany. Moshammer’s famous international clients were, Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Richard Chamberlain, Star tenor José Carreras, Johannes, Prince of Thurn and Taxis, reigning King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf, Magicians Siegfried & Roy, and German radio and television host, entertainer and actor, Thomas Gottschalk . His boutique was inherited from Moshammer’s mother, Else Moshammer. He had a strong relationship with his mother and frequently appeared in public with her. Else Moshammer died in 1993. Rudolph Moshammer was an eccentric (also known quirkiness refers to unusual or odd behavior and iridescent personality). Moshammer was identified carrying his pet Daisy, a Yorkshire Terrier dog in public wherever he went, and even wrote a book about Daisy. Moshammer was also a philanthropist and had commitment to helping homeless people and had built houses for the homeless in Munich. Moshammer appeared in some made-for-TV movies like in the German crime series Tatort. On January 14, 2005, at 9 AM, his personal driver found him dead in his Grünwald mansion in a suburb south of Munich. Moshammer had been strangled with a black telephone cable according to initial reports of the public prosecutors, which the said telephone cable was found near the dead body. His pet dog, Daisy was found unharmed in the living room of his mansion. On January 16, Sunday noon, the Munich police gave a press conference, that reporting that Herisch Ali Abdullah, a 25 year-old Iraqi asylum seeker, who had been tracked down through a DNA database, had admitted murdering Moshammer. According to reports, Abdullah murdered Moshammer when he allegedly refused to pay 2000 euros, in return for sexual favors, due to financial difficulties. Abdullah was sentenced to life in prison for the murder. Moshammer was noted as one of the most successful fashion designers in Germany after Karl Lagerfeld, Jil Sander and Wolfgang Joop. His pet, Daisy, born as Irina de Pittacus, born on September 20, 1993 and died on October 24, 2006, she died at the age of thirteen in Munich. Daisy was cremated hours later in a Munich crematorium, and the urn with her ashes kept by Kaplan in his residence.

Eiko Ishioka

Eiko Ishioka born July 12, 1938 – January 21, 2012, was a Japanese art director, costume and graphic designer known for her work in stage, screen, advertising and print media. Ishioka is known for her advertising campaigns for the Japanese Parco boutique chain, which she is the designer for the 2002 Winter Olympics uniforms and outerwear for members of the Swiss, Canadian, Japanese and Spanish teams held in Salt Lake City and was the director of costume design for the 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony held in Beijing, China. Ishioka won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work in the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola and was posthumously nominated for an Academy Award in the same category for her work in 2012′s film Mirror Mirror by Tarsem Singh. In 1962, Eiko Ishioka began her advertising career with Shiseido cosmetics company, and was later discovered by Tsuji Masuda, who created Parco Ikebukuro from the declining Marubutsu Department Store. In 1973, Eiko Ishioda designed first 15 minutes commercial for Parco Shibuya for the grand opening with a tall, thin black woman, dressed in a black bikini, while dancing with a small man wearing a Santa Claus costume, when Parco was a success and expanded to a location in Shibuya. Director Paul Schrader chose Eiko to be the production designer for Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Schrader’s 1985 film. Eiko’s work with Francis Ford Coppola on the poster for the Japanese release of Apocalypse Now led to their collaboration in Coppola’s Dracula which fetched Eiko her first Academy Award. Eiko Ishioka married her companion Nicholas Soultanakis in a hospital, some few months before Ishioka passed away. She died of pancreatic cancer on January 21, 2012 in Tokyo, Japan.

21)  Wolfgang Joop

Wolfgang Joop born November 18, 1944 in Potsdam, is a German fashion designer, and the founder of  JOOP! the  fashion and cosmetics company, and father of fashion designer Jette Joop. Wolfgang Joop is marries to former art student, Karin Bernatzky in 1970, of which he is now divorced. Wolfgang Joop has two daughters, Jette Joop (also as a fashion and jewelry designer working) and Florentine Joop (writer and illustrator). Joop is four-time grandfather. Since Joop’s separation from his wife, he lives in a same-sex partnership. Joop describes himself as a cosmopolitan and has a home in Monte Carlo, a penthouse in New York and two villas in Potsdam named Villa Wunderkind and Villa Trunk, his hometown, which he feels very connected and he lives again after many years of residence in Hamburg in 1998. Joop and his partner Edwin Lemberg opened Wunderkind GmbH & Co KG. in 2003 which is based in Potsdam. In September 2004, Joop’s first international Wunderkind fashion show took place at the New York Fashion Week, he presented the brands fashion in three consecutive fashion weeks. In 2006, the first appearance of WUNDERJIND brand was presented at the Paris Fashion Week and in October 2012, an entire collection was presented there. Joop appears in 2014, alongside supermodel Heidi Klum and Thomas Hayo as a juror in the Germany’s Next Top Model, replacing the photographer Enrique Badulescu. It was reported that WUNDERKIND was under restructuring with the loss of staff in January 2011, and cancelled the 2011 Spring Paris show. In August 2011, Wolfgang Joop designed the bridal gown worn by Princess Sophie of Isenburg for her marriage to Prince Georg of Prussia. The WUNDERKIND relaunched itself with a new fashion show in Potsdam on May 10, 2012, with a new general manager assigned to managed the company and there are plans to open another store in Berlin and for steady but slower growth.