Designer Collaborations

He may not be a designer name you recognize immediately and yet Tadashi Shoji must be doing something right because his clothes are featured in over 700 stores in the United States. The reason for his stylish ubiquity is simple. Shoji’s formidable skill has allowed him to create sensual, dynamic evening wear that flatters all ages and sizes.

He’s got a voice like a Bentley backing up on a gravel driveway, a presence as big as an Imax screen, and a love of big time, life’s-a-ball glamour propelled by such buoyant charm and good humor that he has now charmed women from Park Avenue to the furthest reaches of QVC for three decades.

She is one of the legendary Big 3 of American fashion and the only woman. But it is a name almost everyone who has ever walked into a fitting room knows - Donna Karan. From the moment she launched her first collection in 1985, she set out to change the way women dressed and saw themselves forever.

Ten years ago, few in America had heard of him. And then suddenly, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce, two women any designer would be thrilled to dress, started showing up on red carpets in these shapely incredibly feminine, elaborately embroidered gowns created by this guy whose name was unfamiliar, even to many fashion insiders.

Fashion relentlessly blankets social media but its direction has become rudderless. Rules are long discarded, designers change luxury brand allegiance on what seems a monthly basis, fast fashion beckons hordes of shoppers away from department stores, while each season trends seem to multiply like crabgrass in May.

Ten years ago, few in America had heard of him. And then suddenly, Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé, two women any designer would be thrilled to dress, started showing up on red carpets in these shapely incredibly feminine, elaborately embroidered gowns created by this guy whose name was unfamiliar, even to many fashion insiders.

Max Mara’s clothing doesn’t shout to your attention. Instead, each piece whispers for you to touch it, feel it and when you put it on, it’s like a welcome embrace. The label’s streamlined silhouettes and swoon-worthy fabrics present a woman as the essence of serene. Knowing elegance.

In an industry with the attention span of an eight-year-old let loose in a video arcade, Norma Kamali has remained cool, vital, desirable, and relevant for over five decades. I repeat - FIVE DECADES. Even more remarkable is that the designer’s key to such enviable longevity isn’t even a secret.