With Opening Ceremony, Lim and Leon are still creating the story 15 years later. The duo held their first solo New York Fashion Week Opening Ceremony show in 2013 on the West Side Highway, where models emerged from sleek sports cars. They described the collection at the time as “a love letter to New York, where our company was born, a tribute to Carol’s Korean background and to the street racing culture from our suburban Los Angeles adolescence.”
As to what the future might hold, Leon says they’re constantly thinking about what’s next. “Opening Ceremony has legs to adapt with the community, but it also has a core message, which is celebrating newness,” he says. Ultimately, they want it to remain “a go-to for people to see things they might not have seen before,” adds Lim. Do they have somewhere to go to when they feel uninspired? “That never really happens,” Leon laughs. “We do so much outside of work, separately and together. We get really excited about things, and I think that’s probably why we’re still doing what we’re doing. We have a lot of ideas in our back pocket that we can’t wait to unleash.”*
Opening Ceremony was named after the Olympic tradition of coming together, something the friends and business partners try to do every morning.
The duo spent a decade in corporate jobs—Leon as a design director at The Gap and Burberry and Lim as a management consultant—before launching Opening Ceremony in 2002.
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Howell is the rare female designer who launched her label with menswear, basing it entirely on her own style.
MARGARET HOWELL
Margaret Howell
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Howell’s clothes are known to include nothing extemporaneous. She says they’re created to be adaptable and useful.
Margaret Howell looks back fondly to the early days of her career, when, fresh out ofart school she decided to craft and sell papier-mâché jewelry. Those early items seem remarkably expressive, and as the 71-year-old icon of British design will testify, the work hinted at the craftsmanship to come. Over the course of her career, Howell has intentionally sidestepped an industry she has undeniably influenced. “I am a clothes designer rather than a fashion designer,” she says.
A discreet, utilitarian appreciation for materials seems almost standard now when looking at the higher end of the market for garments or furniture. Walking around Howell’s flagship store on London’s Wigmore Street, which stocks many carefully selected volumes on design and architecture and various furniture pieces as well as the namesake collections, it’s easy to forget that this was not always the case. The marriage of midcentury modern design and contemporary fashion is something that Howell helped pioneer at the store since opening the location in 2002. “Back then, Scandinavian and American designers were getting a lot of coverage,” she says. “Becoming aware that I was being known as a British designer, I thought we would try and promote some of our own good British designers.” Thus began what Howell likens to a duty, one that has resulted in the likes of Ercol and other masterful British names being featured in the space.
I am a clothes designer rather than a fashion designer.
The same eye drives her own brand. “I have always looked out for beautifully made objects, seeking out specialist British manufacturers, such as Whitehouse Cox producing leather goods and Mackintosh for raincoats,” she says. Her love for what the British call jumble sales and charity shops is clear by the sparkle in her eye; although she laments the lack of excitement (or much treasure) about such places today. But for this designer, inspiration comes in all forms: from photography to the scraps found on factory floors, and from the “minimal, almost modernist” landscapes of Suffolk and the South Downs to the rugged Yorkshire Moors. Howell also lauds the perfect team that surrounds her (including her managing director for the past 25 years, Richard Craig) for allowing her to keep her hands on the reins. “I think my style has remained consistent,” she says, “a casualness with good-quality, well-made clothes.” *
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Howell founded her business with partner Paul Renshaw in the early 1970s, shortly after graduating from Goldsmiths College, University of London, with a fine art degree. She says she was destined to be a designer, in part, because she relished the sort of project that started with a creative brief.
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Howell began promoting her favorite midcentury British designs—Robert Welch cutlery and Angle-poise lamps—at her flagship London store in 2002. Today, she has more than 100 stores in Japan and 10 in Europe.
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For much of his career, the Queens native has lived in the same home where he grew up.
Telfar Clemens
Telfar
As is so often the case, the designer Telfar Clemens is ecstatic with laughter. In Milan for the Italian presentation of his namesake brand, he finds that the tendencies of the local fashion denizens offer him much to appreciate. “Men wear suits to parties!” he squeals, sipping a plastic flute of champagne at a magazine soirée. Men wear suits everywhere in Italy, of course, but it takes an outsider to notice. Clemens, the only casually dressed man at the party, sports his own creations: a black-and-white baseball T-shirt, boot-cut jeans with legs made of knit sweater material and his graphic TC logo as a gold necklace and earrings. A woman festooned in head-to-toe sequins glides past. “These people are so into sparkling,” he gushes. More laughter.
But his commentary is affectionate, even motivational—he suggests later that he should make suits. The Queens-based designer, who spent his early childhood in his family’s native Liberia, is a keen observer of style norms. As such, he’s fixated on deconstructing—and subverting—the conventional ways people dress. Created in collaboration with the artist Babak Radboy and stylist Avena Gallagher, his satirically nonconformist designs—often twisted reinventions of American classics such as polo shirts, cargo pants, jeans, tracksuits and more—won him the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize, a prestigious award that includes $400,000 and mentoring from an industry giant. Clemens showed his first collection more than a decade ago at age 18, but, frustrated by a lack of momentum, he nearly called it quits before the CFDA crowned him a leading light in American fashion.
“I feel like I was really smart in the early years of my brand,” he says, sipping a rosé while watching the Saturday afternoon sidewalk parade of locals from a Porta Nuova café. “People are really open after the CFDA, because they need that kind of validation from an institution, but my codes were all there already in the beginning. It’s still about me looking at what really regular people are wearing,” he says, “and transforming your perception with my take on it.” A round-faced infant in preppie nautical gear waddles by the table. “That baby looks amazing,” he giggles. “Everyone’s so into looking ‘rock’ now in America, even grandmas,” Clemens says. Outside the window of the café, he spots a ponytailed blonde woman wearing what in Milan constitutes a run-of-the-mill “rock chick” outfit: a studded wool overcoat, a studded sweater and studded black cowboy boots. The designer whistles, then lets out a storm of laughter. “I could turn that into such an amazing look!” *
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In 2017, the hamburger chain White Castle commissioned the designer to make the uniforms for its employees nationwide.
century 21
As a teenager, Clemens would track down his favorite European fashion labels at Century 21, New York’s beloved discount department store chain. Its downtown Manhattan flagship is a one-stop shop for the city’s bargain hunters and as Telfar’s ebullient creative director Babak Radboy, pictured here, told Dazed, the kind of place where you could “buy a microwave and Helmut Lang.” In 2017, Clemens launched a capsule collection for the store’s conceptual showroom Next Century. The designer described it as a “democratic fashion experience” where customers could shape the upcoming Telfar collection by voting for their favorite pieces on Instagram.
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In 2017, Doré hosted a series of exp
erimental reading events and a creative workshop in Morocco.
Garance Doré
Atelier Doré
“I’m going to be very honest—when I started [Atelier Doré], I had no real vision. It was a leap of faith, a last chance type of thing,” says French creative director Garance Doré. Today, she’s one of the fashion world’s most-watched editors. Her celebrated creative studio and website are founded on the concept of honest conversation. With a curated mix of photographs, illustrations and Doré’s signature stream-of-conscious writing, her storytelling platform is filled with content aimed to inspire readers to lead more creative lifestyles. “At the time, almost 12 years ago, there was no blog success story. I simply listened to my intuition, before even knowing that I actually had an intuition,” she says.
Doré started her globally recognized platform while living on France’s Mediterranean coast in Marseille. When her website started gaining attention, she moved to Paris, where she began sharing even more of her personal style-focused monologues. Forging a path through the world of fashion, Doré went from being an aspiring illustrator in rural France to the founder of her own media property. “I started selfishly. I was honestly looking for myself. Through illustrations and photos, I wanted to find my own definition of elegance,” she remembers. “I also needed an outlet for sharing my work and felt there had to be a better way to progress as an artist than waiting for my illustrations to appear in magazines.” People quickly connected with the honesty and humanity within her work. In turn, brands and magazines came calling, and Doré was soon sitting front row at fashion shows, selling her own designed products and collaborating with a multitude of fashion lines. Yet she still finds herself looking back to her early childhood experiences for inspiration. “No matter where I am now, I will always remember that I come from a tiny village (with no road access!) in Corsica,” she says. “Childhood is the time of life when we’re allowed to dream. Not only did I grow up among wild, protected nature, but everything I am today was contained within the child that I was. For years, I tried to be what society pushed me to be, only to discover that I knew everything all along. Everything I needed was always within me—I had just buried it.” Those early experiences also informed her writing, defined for its rare vulnerability, an inside look at the musings of a chic and authentic Parisian woman. “Through my words, I found my own definition of a well-lived life,” she says. “Obviously books, people, movies, music, and magazines inspired me along the way, but they were more like touches of the right direction within a giant painting.” Her real driving force has always been her internal journey to find true meaning. “This is a never-ending quest!” she says.
Doré says the wild protected landscape she experienced while growing up in Corsica allowed her to dream. The island is the fourth largest in the Mediterranean Sea and part of the 18 regions of France. Two-thirds of the island, located southeast of the French mainland, is made up of mountains.
I’m going to be very honest— when I started, I had no real vision.
When it comes to style icons, Doré has connected with various women throughout the years. “The truly lasting one for me is Lauren Hutton,” she says. “I see her often at my local coffee shop, and she hasn’t lost an ounce of beauty. She’s truly herself, and her style reflects that. To me that’s exactly what style is—it sounds simple, but it’s very complicated to know exactly who you are!” In person, Doré certainly exudes the essence of a woman who knows exactly who she is. She’s authentic, always showcasing herself as the epitome of her online persona—friendly, naturally beautiful, warm and inspirational. When it comes to her own style, she points to her heritage and roots. “I’m a mix of many cultures—Italian, Moroccan, French and Corsican—and that’s made me who I am. I like ease, simplicity and sensuality,” she says. “The French trait that I love most is subtlety. French people don’t shout; instead they whisper. That’s something I embody as a fashion personality.”
People from all over the world follow her inspirations: Doré’s website is an international community where readers can connect and share. “That’s what I love most about my career—those instances when I’m able to inspire other women to find their own way, and to find their own voice. I also love the freedom; it’s the most important thing for me.”
Conquering both New York and Los Angeles with ease, Doré has proved her place within the fashion world. Armed with courage, she has the tendency to leave comfort behind in order to feel “slightly lost” and become an outsider in a new place. “I would never have had the same journey had I stayed in France. I love America for the personal freedom I’m experiencing here. People let you be who you want to be,” she says. For Doré, her Los Angeles studio is a dream come true. “It’s the only place in the world that’s completely mine. I can see the colors in the sky when the sun rises and when the sun sets, which is inspiring,” she says.
Behind her personal creative curtain, there’s much soul-searching to be found. “My work is really about life—what it means to be happy, to be present, to be a woman. To not let the pressure of the world drive us crazy. To be connected with ourselves. All of these things are infused into my work,” she says, “which helps me get closer to my own truth. And on that path to my true self, I hope I’m helping others around me. To me, that’s the real mission.” *
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In 2012, Doré received the CFDA Eugenia Sheppard Media Award for contributions to the transformation of the fashion media landscape.
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Growing up in a small town, Anderson was one of three children. According to his father, a former rugby player, his son was crazy about animals.
Jonathan Anderson
JW Anderson
loewe
Jonathan Anderson is a force to be reckoned with. Based between Paris and London, the fashion designer, now in his mid-30s, approaches his craft like a modern-day curator, generating a rapid stream of idiosyncratic ideas and stories that manifest into ready-to-wear collections, accessories, exhibitions and more. “You have to try to remove the exclusive and elitist element, and remember the craft and culture,” he says. Between his eponymous line, JW Anderson, and the luxury Spanish house Loewe, Anderson currently shows a total of 12 collections a year—which is no mean feat, considering the level of ingenuity and craftsmanship that remains imperative to both brands.
Becoming fashion’s boy wonder, however, wasn’t his first ambition. Hailing from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland, Anderson was actively pursuing a career in acting when he took a job selling menswear in a luxury department store to pay the bills. It was a pivotal time in men’s fashion, with Tom Ford at the helm of Gucci, Hedi Slimane at Yves Saint Laurent and Prada pushing the boundaries of what was considered to be conventionally masculine. He recalls studying the materiality of the clothes and rearranging the in-store displays obsessively. Eventually, his interest led him to the London College of Fashion, where he completed a degree in menswear design while also moonlighting as a visual merchandiser for Prada. After graduating, he continued working for the house under the tutelage of Miuccia Prada’s right-hand woman, Manuela Pavesi, until he launched his menswear line in 2008.
I believe that collaboration is one of the most important things in any field.
Anderson’s output proved captivating from the outset. His debut Spring/Summer collection explored the notion of gender confusion and featured an outré lineup of sheer shorts, silk robes, lush knits and necklaces spun from twisted ropes and tchotchke. His casual interweaving of men’s and women’s clothing felt elegant and ingeniously progressive—and has remained a constant thread in his aesthetic to date. Yet, he only really gathered pace as a designer once he introduced womenswear to his arsenal in 2010.
From that point, the international press took note, intrigued by his mélange of cultural references and his novel way of integrating antiquated craft techniques into bold, unisex silhouettes. It was his Spring/Summer
2012 women’s collection that ultimately catapulted him from industry secret to emerging tastemaker. From Paisley pajama-style separates to deconstructed cardigan dresses, the line was championed by socialites, buyers and street- style stars with social media clout. Less than a year later, Anderson also spearheaded a sell-out capsule collection for high street retailer Topshop and enjoyed a successful stint as guest designer for Versus, Versace’s sister line.
The stamp of commercial approval came in 2013, when luxury conglomerate LVMH acquired a minority stake in his brand, allowing Anderson to grow it exponentially. Shortly after, he was appointed creative director of Loewe, which raised quite a few eyebrows. What could a then-30-year-old designer have to offer a house so steeped in tradition? His vision for the brand was inspired by memories of childhood holidays in Ibiza, and remains deeply personal to this day. Gone were the baroque traces of his predecessor Stuart Vevers, and in sauntered an organic, off-kilter take on bohemia.
Of course, Anderson owes much of his own expressions to those of others. “It’s about creative output, community and people,” he says. “I believe that collaboration is one of the most important things in any field. Everyone has something to learn from one another.” He is an avid collector of contemporary art, sculpture and ceramics—think Lucie Rie and Hans Coper—and his shows are often framed within a set containing multiple artworks. One of his first moves at Loewe was introducing an annual craft prize, helping to prevent craft from being seen as a lower form of art. In 2017, The Hepworth Wakefield also invited him to curate his first ever exhibition, Disobedient Bodies. Whether executed through clothes or an ambitious exhibit, his combination of unlikely sources remains his greatest gift. “When different disciplines meet,” he adds, “it creates this amazing unpredictability.”*
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