“Now that Valentino has retired, I believe someone must wave the too-tanned flag.”—Michael Kors
Next up in our Vendor Spotlight is Michael Kors. If you have not heard of Michael Kors, you might be living under a rock—well, not really—but he is a pretty well-known guy!
The Michael Kors name and brand is synonymous with style, class, and luxury. He runs an empire of luxurious fashion and the MK train just keeps on moving forward!
While Michael Kors is an iconic American fashion designer whose designs can be seen everywhere, he is also well-known for being a judge on the popular television show Project Runway. Another claim to fame is that he designed former First Lady Michelle Obama's dress for her first official portrait.
Michael Kors was born on August 9, 1959, on Long Island, New York, but not with that name. Wait, what? He was born Karl Anderson Jr., but after his parents divorced and his mom remarried, she encouraged him to pick a new first name to go alone with his new last name so Michael David Kors was "born!"
Michael's love for fashion and design started early. In fact, he has even worked as a model. He worked as a model when he was a toddler appearing in national campaigns for products such as toilet paper and Lucky Charms cereal.
His mom, who believed in his talent so much, allowed him to help design her wedding dress for her second wedding. By this time, Michael was fully taken by the fashion world and was delighted to have a hand in designing his mom's wedding dress!
Later, in the 1970's, Michael moved from Long Island to New York City in order to attend the famed Fashion Institute of Technology. He lasted at the school for two semesters, but his love of fashion continued to grow!
Things really started to happen for Michael when he went to work at the French boutique Lothar's in 1978; this is where he designed and merchandised his first fashion collection. The collection garnered him enough attention that he was then able to start his OWN fashion line.
Kors's simple and tasteful clothing and his persuasive sales techniques helped him build an audience and a following. Kors traveled across the United States doing "trunk shows", but a bit of a break came when, at just the tender age of 23, he convinced the fashion editor Anna Wintour—then of New Yorkmagazine, now the editor of Vogue—to view his collection.
He continued his journey to fashion icon and picked up celebrity fans like Barbara Walters and earned several coveted awards for his stellar designs.
It wasn't all roses though. Michael faced some financial struggles in 1990 and had to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After overcoming this hurdle, he launched KORS Michael Kors, a lower-priced line and became the creative director of Celine, a French fashion house, in 1997.
As creative director, Michael worked hard to expand his brand including launching menswear, accessory and perfume lines. In 2003, he won the coveted Menswear Designer of the Year award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the highest honor one can receive in American fashion.
MK credits his great success for his love of woman and wanting to see them happy! He has also started a line of plus-size clothing as he is committed to having collection that fit and flatter every shape and size!
Michael Kors says, "If a designer's good at what they do, you should be able to get everybody dressed…..and you should still be able to look fantastic," Kors said. "I actually enjoy dressing people of all ages, all sizes."
MK is not afraid to take a risk and he's not afraid of mistakes! Michael shares that he makes mistakes all the time during his design process and it doesn't bother him. He believes you learn from your mistakes and move forward. And he doesn't let bad reviews paralyze him and stop him from trying again.
We here at Mullen Bros. Jewelers are so glad Michael Kors continued to expand his creative vision to include accessories because if he hadn't, we wouldn't have his amazing and timeless watches. His watches are elegantly designed and stylistically always on point!
His watch collections are effortlessly chic and are offered in a variety of styles. Our line of MK watches comes in stainless steel, gold tone, rose gold tone, two-tone, and even tri-tone! The MK dials come in a variety of styles as well including chronograph, mother of pearl, and pave crystals. No matter what kind of MK watch you choose to wear, you can't go wrong...they are simply stunning in every way! Check them out for yourself...
We're honored that Mullen Bros. Jewelers ranks #1 in overall customer ratings among all jewelry retailers in our community and we will continue to take care of our neighbors and friends, one jewel at a time!
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