Showing 1806 results

Authority record
US.20200314.009 · Person · 1898-1960

Italian shoe designer and the founder of luxury goods high-end retailer Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.

Hempel, Anouska
US.20200314.010 · Person · 1941-

Anouska Hempe is of Russian and Swiss-German ancestry. She grew up in New Zealand and Australia and moved to London in 1962 to work as an actress (she was celebrated as an early Bond Girl) before beginning a career as an interior designer and hotelier.

Gigli, Romeo, 1949-
US.20200314.012 · Person · 1949-

Italian fashion designer.

Herrera, Carolina, 1939-
US.20200314.014 · Person · 1939-

Carolina Herrera (born January 8, 1939) is a Venezuelan fashion designer known for "exceptional personal style," and for dressing various First Ladies, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump.

Born María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño in Caracas, Venezuela, to Guillermo Pacanins Acevedo, an air force officer and former governor of Caracas, and María Cristina Niño Passios; in 1957, she married Guillermo Behrens Tello, a Venezuelan landowner, with whom she had two daughters, Mercedes and Ana Luisa; they later divorced; in 1968, in Caracas, she married Reinaldo Herrera Guevara, who had inherited the Spanish title The 5th Marquis of Torre Casa in 1962 upon his father's death; they have two daughters, Carolina Adriana and Patricia Cristina; in 2009, Herrera became a naturalized United States citizen.

Cruz, Miguel
US.20200314.017 · Person · active 1980s

Cuban fashion designer.

Franklin Mint
US.20200314.018 · Corporate body · 1964-

The Franklin Mint was a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The brand name is currently owned by Sequential Brands Group headquartered in New York City, New York. The Franklin Mint sells coins, medals, jewelry, die-cast vehicles, dolls, sculpture and other collectibles.

Blahnik, Manolo, 1942-
US.20200314.025 · Person · 1942-

Manolo Blahnik (b. 1942) is a designer and manufacturer of what were called “the sexiest shoes in the world"—beautiful, expensive, and highly coveted by many of the world’s most fashionable women.

Manolo Blahnik was born on 27 November 1942 in the small village of Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands, where his family—his Spanish mother, Manuela, his Czechoslovakian father, Enan, and his younger sister, Evangelina—had a banana plantation. Manuela, a voracious consumer of fashion magazines, bought clothes on shopping trips to Paris and Madrid and had the island’s dressmaker copy styles from fashion magazines. She designed her own shoes with the help of the local cobbler.

Manolo Blahnik moved to Geneva at the age of fifteen to live with his father’s cousin. Here he had his first experiences of the theater, opera, and fine restaurants. He studied law for a short period but soon switched to literature and art history. Blahnik left Geneva for Paris in 1965 to study art and theater design. He worked at the trendy Left Bank shop GO, where he met the actress Anouk Aimée and the jewelry designer Paloma Picasso.

With Picasso’s encouragement, Blahnik soon moved to London. While working at Feathers, a trendy boutique, he continued to cultivate his connections to the worlds of fashion and culture and was known for his unique style. But Blahnik was still searching for a specific vocation; the search then took him to New York City.

Blahnik arrived in New York City in 1969. Hired by the store Zapata, he began designing men’s saddle shoes. In 1972 Blahnik was introduced to Ossie Clark, then one of London’s most fashionable designers, who asked him to design the shoes for his women’s collection. While the shoes were not commercially successful, the press noticed their originality of design. Blahnik had no formal training as a shoe maker and initally his designs were structually weak. He consulted with a London shoe manufacture in order to correct his lack of technical skills. Also during this time Blahnik met Diana Vreeland, who declared, “Young man, do things, do accessories. Do shoes” (McDowell, p. 84). This endorsement was seconded by China Machado, the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar. Women’s Wear Daily proclaimed Blahnik “one of the most exotic spirits in London" in 1973, and Footwear News described the Manolo Blahnik shoe on its front page as “the most talked about shoe in London.” Blahnik purchased Zapata from its owner in 1973. In 1978 he introduced a line exclusive to Bloomingdale’s, a well-known American retailer. Blahnik opened a second free-standing store a year later on New York’s Madison Avenue.

Blahnik’s creations received considerable publicity in the early 1980s, but his business was not running smoothly. Searching for alternatives, he was introduced by Dawn Mello, the vice president of Bergdorf Goodman, to an advertising copywriter named George Malkemus. Malkemus and his partner, Anthony Yurgaitis, went into business with Blahnik in 1982. They closed the Madison Avenue shop, opened a store on West Fifty-Fourth Street, and limited the distribution of Blahnik’s shoes to such prestigious retailers as Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and Neiman Marcus. By 1984 the newspaper USA Today projected earnings of a million dollars for the New York shop alone. Manolo Blahnik shoes began to appear on the runways of designers from Yves Saint Laurent, Bill Blass, and Geoffrey Beene to Perry Ellis, Calvin Klein, Isaac Mizrahi, and John Galliano.

Manolo Blahnik’s shoes became more popular than ever in the early twenty-first century. They appealed to an increasingly broad audience, in part because of their star billing on the television show Sex and the City. With production of “Manolos” limited to 10,000 to 15,000 pairs per month by four factories outside of Milan, the demand for these shoes exceeded the supply.

Manolo Blahnik won three awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in the 1980s and 1990s. The first special award was given in 1987; the second, for outstanding excellence in accessory design, in 1990. The third award came with the following tribute in 1997: “Blahnik has done for footwear what Worth did for the couture, making slippers into objects of desire, collectibles for women for whom Barbies are too girlish and Ferraris not girlish enough. An incredible piston in the engine of fashion, there is almost no designer he has not collaborated with, no designer who has not turned to him to transform a collection into a concert.”

The December 2003 issue of Footwear News quoted Alice Rawsthorn, the director of London’s Design Museum, which had been the site of a recent Blahnik retrospective: “Technically, aesthetically and conceptually, he is one of the most accomplished designers of our time in any field, and is undeniably the world’s most influential footwear designer”.

Cole, Anne
US.20200314.023 · Person · 1927-2017

Anne Cole is an American swimwear designer.

Anne first entered the world of fashion in the 1950s at her father’s swimwear company, Cole of California. As she worked her way through the ranks, her unique perspective on sales and marketing shaped Cole of California into an icon. From there, she launched her eponymous collection, creating styles for women of every age that flatter with effortless ease. Perhaps most famously, Anne created the original Tankini, blending the modesty of a one-piece swimsuit with the flexibility of a two-piece.

Today the Anne Cole brand offers a full collection of high-quality fashion swimwear in women’s and plus sizes.

Leighton, Fred
US.20200314.027 · Person · 1932-2017

Fred Leighton (born Murray Mondschein in the Bronx, on July 23, 1932) was a jeweler based in New York City who had many celebrities as clients.

Cartier (Firm)
US.20200314.028 · Corporate body · 1847-

Cartier, is a French luxury goods conglomerate which designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells jewelry and watches. It was founded by Louis-François Cartier in Paris in 1847.

Gandhi, Indira, 1917-1984
US.20200321.002 · Person · 1917-1984

Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India. She served as Prime Minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984.

Capote, Truman, 1924-1984
US.20200321.004 · Person · 1924-1984

American author of "In Cold Blood" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

McClintock, Jessica
US.20200321.011 · Person · 1930-

Jessica Gagnon McClintock is an American fashion designer. She is the founder, President and CEO of Jessica McClintock, Inc., an American retail company based in San Francisco, California.

US.20180719.022 · Person · 1929-1982

Grace Kelly was an American actress. She married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, becoming Princess Grace of Monaco.

Garbo, Greta, 1905-1990
US.20200321.012 · Person · 1905-1990

Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s.

US.20200321.013 · Corporate body · 1723-1982

Revillon Frères (Revillon Brothers) was a French fur and luxury goods company, founded in Paris in 1723.

Louis Vuitton (Firm)
US.20200321.014 · Corporate body · 1854-

Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly referred to as Louis Vuitton or shortened to LV, is a French fashion house and luxury retail company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton.

Gucci (Firm)
US.20200321.015 · Corporate body · 1921-

Gucci is an Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods. Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence, Italy, in 1921.

Coach, Inc.
US.2020.0321.017 · Corporate body · 1941-

American company specializing in leather goods and other luxury accessories. In 2017, after acquiring Stuart Weitzman and Kate Spade, Coach Inc. renamed itself Tapestry Inc.

Tiffany and Company
US.20200321.018 · Corporate body · 1837-

The firm Tiffany & Young was founded in New York on 21 September 1837 by Charles Louis Tiffany and his partner John B. Young (1802–52) as a small fancy goods and stationery store. Tiffany proved to be a gifted entrepreneur with an impeccable sense of style; he catered to newly rich clients unsure of their tastes by offering rare and exotic imported goods, and the business thrived. In 1841, with a third partner, John L. Ellis, the company added fine European silver, porcelain, crystal glassware, personal and desk-top accessories, and later jewelry, Swiss watches, and bronze statuary to its stock. As a champion of American craftsmanship and materials, Tiffany established his own jewelry-making workshop in 1848 and subsequently became one of the greatest merchant-jewelers in the USA; the firm produced such pieces of individually crafted jewelry as the ‘Chrysanthemum’ brooch.

In 1851 Tiffany brought the silver manufacturer John Chandler Moore into the firm, and under Moore’s direction the company rose to dominate the domestic silver market. By 1853 the firm was known as Tiffany & Co. In 1850 Tiffany opened a branch in Paris; at the Expositions Universelles of 1867 and 1878 in Paris the firm was awarded medals, the first to be given to an American silver-maker. Moore’s son, the silver designer Edward Chandler Moore (1827–91), also joined the company; in 1871 he created the celebrated ‘Audubon’ flatware, with its modeled and cast design of birds, which continued to be produced during the 1990s, and later such pieces as the opulent enameled silver and inlaid ‘Magnolia’ vase (c1892–3; New York, Met.).

By 1900 Tiffany & Co. included among its clients 23 royal families, including that of Queen Victoria, as well as celebrities, millionaires, and successive US presidents. A notable presentation item was the Adams Vase, designed by Paulding Farnham (1893–5; see United States of America, §IX, 1, (v)). Louis Comfort Tiffany inherited the business on the death of his father in 1902. Tiffany’s also produced some of the most important trophies in the USA, including the silver August Belmont Memorial Cup with festoons of oak leaves and models of Belmont racehorses (1926). In 1932 a store was opened in London, which flourished until World War II. From the mid-1950s the firm was revitalized under the president Walter Hoving (1897–1989) and the design director Van Day Truex. Such prominent European jewelry designers as Jean Schlumberger (1907–87) and Elsa Peretti (b 1940) joined the company, and new stores were opened in major cities in the USA, Europe (including another store in London), and Japan. In 1979 Truex was succeeded by the artist/designer John Loring (b 1939), who introduced work by such designers as Paloma Picasso (b 1949) and Frank Gehry, and revived some classic Tiffany designs.

Kieselstein-Cord, Barry
US.20200321.019 · Person · 1943-

American artist, designer and photographer.

Di Sant'Angelo, Giorgio
US.20200321.020 · Person · 1933-1989

Giorgio Di Sant’Angelo (b Florence, May 5, 1933; d New York, Aug 29, 1989).

American fashion and accessories designer of Italian birth. Sant’ Angelo burst onto the fashion scene in the late 1960s with his brightly-colored accessories, unconventional styling, cultural and historical references and a novel approach to dressing. Firmly believing stretch fabrics were the future, Sant’ Angelo eschewed zippers and exalted the female form through wrapping, draping and layering.

Sant’ Angelo’s formative years, spent on his grandparents’ Argentinean ranch, nurtured his appreciation of nature, music, color and costume. His actual birth name is unknown, as he referred to himself on different occasions as Jorge Alberto Imperatrice and Count Giorgio Alberto Imperatrice di Sant’ Angelo. Consequently, details of his past are often unclear, but he evidently spent two years studying law at Sante Fe’s Universidad Nacional de Litoral before entering the architecture and industrial design program at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. During this time, Sant’ Angelo was also enrolled in various private painting, sculpture, drawing and ceramic courses and success with the latter led to a six month scholarship studying art with Pablo Picasso in Vallauris. Through Picasso, he learnt to trust his restless creativity and in 1962, after winning a European animated short film competition, Sant’ Angelo arrived at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA. He was there on a one year study program but lasted only fifteen days. Appalled at the assembly line ethic imposed on the artistic process, he left Hollywood for Europe, but stopped en route in New York City. He recalled arriving during the revolutionary 1960s when the hippie movement was gaining momentum. Determined to be a part of it, Sant’ Angelo found employment designing textiles for Cohn-Hall-Marx and Marcus Brothers before planning interiors and designing furniture for a chain of hotels in the Bahamas. At the time he relied primarily on DuPont plastics, as they held up against the salt-laden air, but Sant’ Angelo recognized the material’s potential beyond interiors and in his spare time began creating colorful accessories from the samples and scraps. In 1966, he collaborated with German-born designer Ingeborg Markus to design a line of plastic treasures they dubbed ‘ArchitectJewels’. When the Lucite accessories were later presented to the Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, she was so impressed that she demanded more.

Sant’ Angelo began to freelance his talents and in no time his designs, for feather-light jewelry, such as leather-covered Styrofoam and plastics impregnated with small stones and pearls, were gracing the pages of Vogue. Fingers of gloves were squared off and decorated with chunky non-irritating industrial zippers, silk ropes were twisted around wrists, waists and necks, while brightly colored Dynel, cork and Lucite hairpieces topped the heads of such models as Veruschka, Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. As legend has it, Vreeland realized Sant’ Angelo could do virtually anything and swiftly appointed him her muse, ordering him to inspire the magazine’s pages. As such, by and large the ephemeral effects Sant’ Angelo created for Vogue were not for sale. For instance, when Vreeland sent Sant’ Angelo, the model Veruschka and photographer Franco Rubartelli into the Arizona desert in the summer of 1968, they were not actually there to sell clothing. Yet, armed with nothing but scissors, wire and two suitcases of fabric, Sant’ Angelo proceeded to wrap, drape and tie a collection of unconventional clothing.

Although he envisioned women as seductively swathed, sumptuous gypsies who built their wardrobes around layers of colored and printed fabrics, simply changing looks with ropes, scarves and chains, he also knew the world was not ready for his avant-garde ideas of body coverings. Sant’ Angelo therefore settled for designing ready-to-wear that was stitched together rather than wrapped and presented his first spring collection in a nine-page fashion editorial in the March 1969 issue of Life magazine. The uninhibited and unexpected designs encouraged women to live out their pastoral fantasies and for the next three years, Sant’ Angelo continued to regale the fashion establishment with rich peasant, romantic gypsy and radical South and North American Indian-inspired collections ( see fig. ). At the heart of every Sant’ Angelo collection was the bodysuit and in the early 1970s he became the champion of stretch fabrics. He sought to free women from the box with the zipper in the back, believing the body should dictate the silhouette, not the clothes. Consequently, his sensual second-skin designs were often criticized for exposing too much, or for only flattering fantastic figures. But Sant’ Angelo loved women’s shapes and maintained that through his use of materials, shapes and color combinations he glorified the female form, regardless of size.

However, as America’s economy began to sag in the mid-1970s so did Sant’ Angelo’s commercial appeal. He tried new ventures but eventually settled uncomfortably on Seventh Avenue, signing licensing agreements for furs, menswear, childrenswear, swimwear and home furnishings. By the end of the decade Sant’ Angelo, dissatisfied with the quality of his mass-produced lines, tried to end these various agreements. The legalities were near-crippling and it took years for Sant’ Angelo to recover and rejuvenate. Then in 1987, without any financial backers and only himself to answer to, Sant’ Angelo’s star began to rise anew—once again his ideas were in tune with the time. Two years later he was back on top, his fall collection considered by retailers and the press as one of his finest. The clothes were still signature Sant’ Angelo—sinuous, sexy, draped and layered—only now the world had caught up with his advanced view on body coverings. Unfortunately, undermining Sant’ Angelo’s re-emergence was a battle with lung cancer and four months following his sensational fall collection, Sant’ Angelo died at the age of 56. Sant’ Angelo’s life of extravagant experimentation, as well as his predilection for wrapping and layering, body dressing and ethnic influences, have impacted modern designers, inspired new approaches to dress and forever expanded the lexicon of fashion.

Savitch, Jessica
US.20200321.023 · Person · 1947-1983

Jessica Beth Savitch was an American television news presenter and correspondent, best known for being the weekend anchor of NBC Nightly News and daily presenter of NBC News updates during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Jourdan, Charles
US.20200321.024 · Person · 1883-1976

Charles Jourdan (1883 – 12 February 1976) was a French fashion designer known best for his designs of women's shoes.

Harry Winston, Inc.
US.20200321.025 · Corporate body · 1932-

American luxury jeweler and producer of Swiss timepieces; founded in 1932 by the jeweler Harry Winston; headquartered in New York.

Jacobs, Shanie
US.20200321.027 · Person · 1950-

American designer of crocheted sweaters and tops.

Abajian, Robert
US.20200328.002 · Person · 1932-1995

Robert (Bob) Abajian received his training from the Fashion Institute of Technology. In 1978, he received the Mortimer Ritter Award, presented for outstanding achievement in design. He was a member and the president in 1992 of Fashion's Inner Circle.

In a 42-year career in the apparel industry, he served as design director for the apparel company College Town/Panther from 1980 to 1983 and spent 11 years as design director for Bobbie Brooks. He joined Liz Claiborne in 1984 as design director and, after a brief period away from the company, returned in 1987 as vice president of the Lizsport line.

As a senior vice president at Liz Claiborne, he was in charge of coordinating design for the $1.1 billion sportswear division, which consists of three lines. He took over the company's design direction when Ms. Claiborne retired as company chairwoman in 1989. He retired in 1994.

He developed a studio at Liz Claiborne where recent design graduates could work with an established director in developing their skills.

Grant, Cary, 1904-1986
US.20200328.006 · Person · 1904-1986

Cary Grant (1904-1986) was an English-American actor.

Buchalter, Zachary
US.20200328.008 · Person · 1917-1971

Zachary Buchalter joined Leslie Fay Inc. as general production manager in 1954, became president in 1965. He was active in popularizing Quiana, a silk like fiber in the nylon family, in the manufacture of dresses. He died in 1971 at the age of 53.

Dean, Dorothy
US.20200328.009 · Person · 1932-1987

Dorothy Dean was an African American socialite, actress - connected to Andy Warhol's The Factory - and editor.

Munkacsi, Martin
US.20200328.012 · Person · 1896-1963

Fashion photographer.

Lady Lynne, Inc.
US.20200328.016 · Corporate body · 1956-

Lingerie company.

James, Charles, 1906-1978
US.20200328.018 · Person · 1906-1978

Charles James (b Surrey, July 18, 1906; d New York, Sept 23, 1978) American fashion designer of English birth. James was renowned for his unique, sculptural approach to high fashion. He was born into a traditional upper-class family in 1906 and at 19, he started his first fashion venture with a millinery shop under the name Charles Boucheron. Although supported by friends and family, the shop was unsuccessful and in 1928 James moved to New York and started designing dresses for private clients. This business also did not last and a year later he relocated to London under the name E. Haweis James, though most people already knew him as ‘Charlie’. In an early instance of what was to become a pattern in his career, he soon went bankrupt.

After a brief stint in Paris, James returned to the States in 1939 and opened a shop on 57th Street under his own name. He soon found a financial partner in Mrs Thomas Jenkins Lewis, better known as Elizabeth Arden (1878–1966). In 1944 he showed a collection at her salon that consisted mostly of afternoon dresses made of silk crêpe and satin, and emphasized his particular skills at drapery. Although relevant, the collection did not cement his reputation; it would be several more years until a Charles James design would receive its due recognition.

James and Arden ended their relationship in 1945 due to his excessive expenditure and his accusation that she stole his designs. With the financial support of a family friend, James opened yet another salon. It was here that his company began to grow and prosper, and also here that he eventually created his masterworks: evening gowns that featured extraordinary arrangements of draped silk satin and kimono-inspired jackets and coats.

In 1947, James went to Paris to show his latest collection of day and evening ensembles. Many of Paris’s top couturiers came out in support of him, including Jacques Fath, Elsa Schiaparelli and Christian Dior. Although he was just beginning to receive international acclaim, James had already been planning his own accolades. With the conceit that his designs would be museum-worthy, James kept a detailed record of his work, including all the muslins and paper patterns from which future fashion students could study.

At the peak of his career in 1950, James received the first of his two Coty Awards. Even though James at this point was one of the most expensive couturiers, he was still unable to turn a profit because he could only produce about 100 designs a year. To gain revenue, James embarked on licensing deals with retailers Ohrbachs and Samuel Winston. Though initially successful, these deals eventually fell through due do his poor business practices and unwillingness to compromise on quality. By 1958, James had lost all of his business ventures.

In the following decade, James continued to create designs only for private clients. He spent the later years of his career at his residence in the Chelsea Hotel where he held informal classes on the art of dressmaking, and where he died in 1978.

Charles James has often been called a ‘designer’s designer’, but it is difficult to study the significance of his designs as a part of fashion history because they are not a part of any historical context. They were not of their own time or anytime before and after. A James gown, with its corseting and distortion of the body, could belong to the 19th century (see fig.), but on the other hand, his designs could also be worn well into the 1950s, they are neither dated nor contemporary.

The significance in James’s work may not lie in the designs themselves but rather his approach. As part of his research, he spent three years and $20,000 studying and developing the perfect sleeve, only to lengthen it by one inch. He may be the only designer whose biography includes references to costs for research and development. Because of his exhaustive approach to design, he often referred to each of his gowns as a ‘thesis’, representing a solution to a problem. James also felt that his designs were worthy of being studied in themselves, and he had his ‘Abstract’ gown reviewed by an engineer as proof of his genius. The dress comprises 30 pattern pieces and multiple layers of material. In addition, James also had dress forms made to the exact measurements of his clients, but if he did not feel that a client had the perfect figure, he would simply change the form without thought as to whether or not the dress would fit. Ultimately, a James design stands apart because he was able to realize for the body what others could only idealize.

Comme des Garçons (Firm)
US.20200328.020 · Corporate body · 1973-

Comme des Garçons is a Japanese fashion label founded and headed by Rei Kawakubo in Tokyo and Place Vendôme in Paris.

Meade, Julia
US.20200328.023 · Person · 1925-2016

Julia Meade Kunz was an American film and stage actress who was a frequent pitch person in live commercials in the early days of television in the 1950s.

Rodgers, Shannon, 1911-1996
US.20200328.026 · Person · 1911-1996

Fashion designer and business partner of Jerry Silverman, who together founded and co-owned Jerry Silverman, Inc., one of the fashion industry's most successful New York women's ready-to-wear firms of the second half of the 20th century.

Louboutin, Christian, 1963-
US.20200404.001 · Person · 1963-

Christian Louboutin launched his high-end line of women’s shoes in France in 1991, and the red-lacquered soles have become his signature since 1992. Christian Louboutin has topped the Luxury Institute’s annual Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) for three years; the brand’s offerings were declared the Most Prestigious Women’s Shoes in 2007, 2008, and 2009 (Figure 3.10). (In 2007, he was followed by Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo, rated second and third, respectively.)

Louboutin was born in Paris, France and as a child, regularly sneaked out of school to watch the showgirls at some Parisian nightclubs. He was fascinated by their costumes and cites this as his main inspiration for becoming a shoe designer: “[The showgirls] influenced me a lot. If you like high heels, it’s really the ultimate high heel—it’s all about the legs, how they carry themselves, the embellishment of the body. They are the ultimate icons.” He was 11 years old when he was struck by a strange drawing on the wall of the Musée des Arts Africains et Oceaniens. It was a woman’s shoe with a sharp heel, crossed out with a red line in a sign, stating that women could not enter while wearing sharp stilettos, for fear of damage to the wood floor. This image stayed in his mind and catapulted his creativity. Later he used this idea in his designs. “I wanted to defy that,” said Louboutin. “I wanted to create something that broke rules and made women feel confident and empowered.”

He knew he wanted to design shoes and became obsessed with sketching and designing them. He decided to pursue his dream although his family opposed his decision to leave school. He claims that his resolve was strengthened after watching an interview on TV with Sophia Loren in which she introduced her sister, saying she had to leave school when she was only 12 but when she turned 50 she got her degree. “Everybody applauded! And I thought, ‘Well, at least if I regret it, I’m going to be like the sister of Sophia Loren!’”

The Launch of Louboutin’s Career
Louboutin got his first apprenticeship at the Folies Bergères and followed it with freelance work for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Maud Frizon, and Roger Vivier. After a three-year stint in garden design, he opened his own boutique in 1992. By 1995, he was designing for Jean-Paul Gaultier, Chloe, Azzaro, Diane Von Furstenberg, Victor and Rolf, and Lanvin with ready-to-wear and couture creations and helped bring stilettos back into fashion. His designs often featured heel heights of 120mm (4.72 inches) and higher.

Louboutin’s Signature Style
Christian Louboutin’s professed goal is to “make a woman look sexy, beautiful, to make her legs look as long as [he] can.” And while he does offer some lower-heeled styles, Louboutin is most famous for his dressier eveningwear designs incorporating bejeweled straps, bows, feathers, patent leather, and other frills.

In 2002, Louboutin created the shoes for Yves Saint Laurent’s farewell haute couture show. Referred to as “Christian Louboutin for Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture 1962–2002,” it was the only time that Saint Laurent associated his name with that of another designer.

In 2007, he collaborated with David Lynch on the exhibition “Fetish” and created sexy one-of-a-kind shoes; fetish objects of desire, photographed by Lynch. In 2008, the Fashion Institute of Technology paid a tribute to Christian Louboutin by creating a retrospective of his work.

The red soles of his shoes have become a signature (Figure 3.11), and on March 27, 2007, Christian Louboutin filed an application for U.S. trademark protection of this design element. In his U.S. trademark application, Louboutin explains the inception of the red soles: “In 1992 I incorporated the red sole into the design of my shoes. This happened by accident as I felt that the shoes lacked energy so I applied red nail polish to the sole of a shoe. This was such a success that it became a permanent fixture.” As he explains,“[He] did not really choose the red sole. It’s more like the red sole came to [him] and had to stay with [him].”

Christian Louboutin’s designs have gained popularity among socialites and celebrities. A pair of size five black Christian Louboutin shoes once owned by Elizabeth Taylor sold for £10,000 at a charity auction in 2005. His shoes regularly show up on the red carpet at the Oscars and other glamorous events. When asked if there was a famous star on which Louboutin was glad to see his shoes he responded, “I admire Angelina Jolie. I think she is gorgeous, generous, talented, and [a] free-minded person. I am lucky that she is already wearing my shoes.”

Christian Louboutin currently has six boutiques in the United States, two in London, England, one in each of Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore and several in Australia. The first in South America is in Shopping Iguatemi, São Paulo, Brazil. In addition to being sold at 46 signature boutiques internationally, the shoes can be found at Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and Jeffrey and through online stores and boutiques. His shoes demand prices as high as $1,400, and he continues to create shoes for young and talented designers like Roland Mouret and Rodarte as well as his signature. He is famous for his quirky and down-to-earth personality and rides a humble Vespa to work and professes not to own a television. During his prolific career Christian Louboutin has received two FannyAwards from the International Fashion Group in 1996 and 2008.

Pennington, Ann, 1893-1971
US.20200404.004 · Person · 1893-1971

Ann Pennington was an actress, dancer, and singer who starred on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, notably in the Ziegfeld Follies and George White's Scandals.

Loos, Anita, 1893-1981
US.20200404.006 · Person · 1893-1981

Anita Loos (1893-1981) was an American author, screenwriter, and dramatist.

Hepburn, Audrey, 1929-1993
US.20200404.013 · Person · 1929-1993

Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was a British actress and humanitarian.

Angel, Zuzu
US.20200404.20 · Person · 1921-1976

Zuleika Angel Jones, better known as Zuzu Angel, was a Brazilian-American fashion designer.

Wayne, John, 1907-1979
US.20200404.033 · Person · 1907-1979

John Wayne (1907-1979) was an American film actor, director, and producer.

Lawford, Peter, 1923-1984
US.20200404.035 · Person · 1923-1984

Peter Lawford (1923-1984) was an English-American actor.

Carnegie, Hattie
US.20180702.016 · Person · 1889-1956

Hattie Carnegie was born Henrietta Kanengeiser in Vienna, Austria on March 15, 1889. In 1900, she immigrated with her family to the United States where they settled in New York City. She later changed her last name to Carnegie because of its association with wealth. In 1909, she bought a store with Rose Roth called "Carnegie Ladies' Hatter". Carnegie studied Parisian fashion styles which she adapted for her customers. In 1919, she bought Rose Roth's share of the business and Hattie Carnegie, Inc. was born. In 1928, Carnegie introduced her first ready-to-wear line designed by Norman Norell. By 1940, Carnegie had more than 1,000 employees producing her ready-to-wear lines, but her custom shop was the foundation of her reputation. During WWII, Carnegie became a leader in the American Fashion scene where she began to rely on American fabric designers. In the 1950's she continued to make chic and conventional dresses and suits, along with ballgowns that were adapted from French couturiers. she was also known for using a particular shade of blue in many of her garments that became known as "Carnegie blue". Carnegie died in 1956, but her business stayed open under the direction of her husband, John Zanft and employee, Larry Joseph until 1976.

Carol, Betty
US.20200418.001 · Person · active 1950s-1960s

Betty Carol was a designer for the Mam'selle dress house and founding member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).

Charisse, Cyd
US.20200418.003 · Person · 1922-2008

Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.

Chaumet (Firm)
US.20200418.004 · Corporate body · 1780-

The House of Chaumet, founded in 1780, is a high-end jeweler based in Paris.

Colbert, Claudette
US.20200418.005 · Person · 1903-1996

Claudette Colbert was a French-born American stage and film actress.

US.20200418.006 · Person · 1895-1926

Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred in several well-known silent films

Conway, Gordon, 1894-1956
US.20200418.007 · Person · 1894-1956

Gordon Conway was raised in Dallas and worked in New York, London, and Paris. She became an illustrator for Vanity Fair and an accomplished fashion artist; she went on to a career in design that encompassed publicity campaigns for Broadway musicals, costume and set designs for cabaret in Paris, and the management of the first autonomous costume department at a major British film studio.

Couturier, Robert, 1955-
US.20200418.009 · Person · 1955-

French architect and interior designer. He established his firm in New York City in 1987.