Top Designers To Watch: Part 1

By Reine Gammo
[Ladies Fashion]
Want to know a little bit more about the fashion industry?  Reine Gammo gives you a brief fashion history lesson.
A lot of people claim to know a lot about the fashion industry when in fact they don’t know much.  Just because you have a sense of style or can pick two colours that match doesn’t mean you know fashion.  The industry is rich with fantastic designers that transform the field each year with their innovative designs.  They keep pushing the industry forward and with that, not only elevate fashion into art, but also stimulate the economy and other industries, like entertainment.  Some would like to scoff at the fashion industry and call it trivial; however, those that do simply aren’t smart enough to realize fashion’s influence and the depth of the industry.  While you don’t necessarily need to buy big designer brands all the time, if you watch fashion and it’s ever changing seasons, it’s good to know about the designers, their signatures and what each brand is famous for.  Here is a look at some classic designer brands and some to watch for 2010.

Jil Sander

This eponymous label, founded in 1973 by German designer Heidemarie Jiline ‘Jil’ Sander, is known for its minimalist, reductionist style.  Sander created a specific kind of lifestyle surrounding her designs, focusing on a sort of understated elegance and fine tailoring with high-end materials fit for the businesswoman lifestyle.  The designer enjoyed a cult-like following in the 80s and is now benefiting from a design renewal by new chief designer Raf Simons.  Simons’ vision for the label consists of clothes for dressing up and for accessorizing.  Stilettos and dresses worthy of the red carpet are the new direction of this usually precise and polished label.

Bottega Veneta

Originally founded in 1966 by Renzo Zengiaro and Michele Taddei as an Italian luxury leather goods manufacturer, the company has had quite the history since then.  Although successful and famous for its woven leather, interest in the brand declined in the 90s, so in early 2000, British designer Giles Deacon was brought in to revamp the brand.  Deacon launched the brand’s ready-to-wear line and in 2001 the brand experienced yet another revamp with Deacon moving to designing Gucci womenswear and Gucci Group buying Bottega Veneta with persuasion from Tom Ford.  German-born designer Tomas Maier now heads design for the brand.  The Bottega Veneta signature is woven leather bags, always in clean lines, the supplest of leather and always in easy to wear designs.  While Deacon’s designs were super sexy, Maier’s are unpretentious, classical and endure the test of time, with draping and folding elements predominating.
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