Better in Boots

ALBERTA FERRETTI
The daughter of a dressmaker, Alberta Ferretti opened her first boutique in the picturesque village of Cattolica, near Rimini, Italy, at the age of 18.  She designed her first collection in 1974 and launched her label in 1980. Her studio remains in Cattolica, her showroom in Milan, and her US Flagship store in New York.  Her line, Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti, launched in 1984, is a younger, more casual look which brings her style to a lower price bracket. Among her clients are: Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, Debra Messing and Jennifer Lopez

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN
Born in the East End of London, the son of a taxi driver, Alexander McQueen decided at a young age to become a fashion designer.  He worked his way up from an apprenticeship on London’s famed Savile Rowe, through fashion school, joining top design houses Givenchy and Gucci, before striking out on his own in an attempt to estabilish his own name on their level.  Over the years McQueen developed a reputation for controversy and shock tactics, with his fashion shows and design themes ranging from the morbid and the macabre to the whimsical and romantic–all mirroring his own complex psyche. He has been called the “hooligan of English fashion”, however he was also one of the youngest designers to achieve the title “British Designer of the Year”, which he won four times between 1996 and 2003. McQueen opened his first US flagship store in L.A. in 2008.

ALEXANDER WANG

Born and raised in San Francisco, Wang moved to New York City at 18 to pursue a career in design. After just one year at Parsons school of design. and interning at Teen Vogue, Wang launched an eponymous collection his sophomore year, immediately winning fashion editors over with his selection of perfectly crafted cashmere sweaters. Now, having expanded his line to include a full range of ready-to-wear pieces, from distressed boyfriend jeans and shrunken vests, and an equally covetable footwear line, Wang has continued to grow in popularity with his signature “model-off-duty” style.

AZZEDINE ALAΪA
Azzedine Alaïa (pronunciation: Aliya) is a Tunisian-born couturier and shoe designer, particularly successful since the 1980s.  Born in 1940, his parents were wheat farmers, but his glamorous twin sister inspired his love for couture.  A French friend of his mother fed Alaïa’s instinctive creativity with copies of Vogue.  He lied about his age to get into the local school of fine arts in Tunis and began studying sculpture where he gained valuable insights into the human form.  After his graduation, Alaïa found his way to Paris, where he worked for Christian Dior,  Guy Laroche and Thierry He produced his first ready-to-wear collection in 1980. That same year, when a French designer was walking down Madison Avenue with one of the first Alaïa leather coats, she was stopped by a Bergdorf Goodman buyer who asked her what she was wearing, which began a turn of events that lead to his designs being sold in New York and in Beverly Hills. Alaïa’s designs stand out for closely following the curves of a woman’s body and being at once feminine, graceful and modern. Among his fans are Victoria Beckham, Madonna and Michelle Obama, who broke with the tradition of first ladies wearing American designers to foreign events by wearing an Alïa design to the 2009 NATO dinner with heads of state in Strasbourg, France. Alïa’s leather goods and footwear products are produced in partnership with the Prada design group.

BALMAIN
A French fashion house, Balmain was founded by Pierre Balmain in 1945 when he, Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga were the design giants responsible for rejuvinating haute couture dressing after World War II.  His elegant, ultra feminine looks were favored by European royalty and movie stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburne, Brigit Bardot and Sophia Lauren. Since Balmain’s death, creative control of the line changed hands a number of times and its popularity declined.  Investors revived Balmain in 2005, and brought on designer Christophe Decarnin, who had spent the previous decade at Paco Rabanne.  Under Decarnin’s influence, the label that was once known for ultraelegant evening attire took on an edgier, trendsetting “tough-chic” look. Owner Alain Hivelin claims that sales have doubled since Decarnin’s appointment. Expansions are also in the works, adding staff, a shoe line with Giuseppe Zanotti, and the label’s first men’s collection in Paris in January 2009.  Balmain’s clients include Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Sofia Coppola.

ALEXANDER WANG
American newcomer Alexander Wang dropped out of fashion school yet still launched his first full women’s collection in 2007. His style is a casually cool downtown look, drawing inspiration from the eighties, French chic, and rock grunge. Wang launched his first footwear collection in 2009.

CASADEI
The Italian, family-owned company, Casadei, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2009. Casadei — known for its gem-embellished stilettos and towering platform pumps priced between $395 and $2,000 — has found success across Western Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Casadei operates 13 namesake shops across Italy and in Paris, Moscow and Dubai and plans to open a Middle East flagship in the coming year. The company takes great pride in remaining privately owned while having acheived substantial success. Cesare Casadei, whose parents founded the company, serves as its head and creative director. Plans for a shop on New York’s Madison Avenue have been put on hold due to the unstable economy, however Casadei still intends to open the brand’s first U.S. door within the next five years. All of Casadei’s products are produced in Italy.

CHLOÉ
French fashion house Chloé was founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion.  The first collection was introduced in 1956 at Le Café de Flore, one of their favorite cafes and a popular meeting place for artists in Paris.  At the time luxury fashion houses had only ever produced expensive Haute Couture (i.e. made-to-measure high fashion) clothing, leaving fashion-mined but less well-heeled women to rely on cheap reproductions by local seamstresses.  Aghion sensed a market for a high-quality, off-the-rack fashion line for a broader clientel, and thus net-a-porter (ready-to-wear) was born. In the seventies, Chloé’s designs were a favorite of icons like Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, and Jackie O.  More recently, Chloé has become known for launching the careers of young designers, including a 28-year-old Karl Lagerfeld in 1966 and a 26-year-old Stella McCartney in 1997.  Today, the label is helmed by London native Hannah MacGibbon.   The brand’s penchant for moving forward with the times and being in touch with its customers continues today. In 2002, Chloé launched its shoe line which immediately became a hit among fashionable young trendsetters. In 2007  it was the first luxury brand to offer an iPhone-specific version of its website.

MARC JACOBS
Marc Jacobs was born in 1963 in New York City and attended the Parsons School of Design, winning a number of student awards.  He  introduced his namesake line in 1986 and quickly became the youngest designer ever to win the CFDA (Counsil of Fashion Designers of America) Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. “Marc by Marc Jacobs” is his lower-priced line. In 2009, Jacobs was ranked 15th on Out Magazine’s annual list of “50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America.”  Jacobs is also the creative director of Louis Vuitton.

SIGERSON MORRISON
United through their study at FIT, Kari Sigerson and Miranda Morrison started Sigerson Morrison in 1991. Best known for their fun flats and sexy, metallic kitten heels, the two have applied their skills to developing a shoe and bag collection that has caught the eye of Cameron Diaz, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry, and many others. “Belle by Sigerson Morrison” is their lower-priced line which continues the Sigerson Morrison simple design philosophy: “Style, rather than fashion, is key.”