Focus on Fashion: Designer Insider Profile – Jill Stuart

The Jill Stuart show will be one of the hottest tickets on Saturday the 7^th of September as the great and good of the fashion world descend upon New York city for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. If you’re not already familiar with the homegrown and hot designer… here’s everything you need to know.

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Background:

A New Yorker through and through, Stuart was born in the city that never sleeps in 1965, where she grew up and attended the Dalton School on the Upper East Side. Fashion was in her blood; Stuart’s parents owned a well-known sportswear company and dressed some of the most famous faces of the 1960’s and 70’s. She was always destined for fashion greatness, and she started young. Almost every movie or TV show you’ve ever watched that happens to be set in NY will feature a Bloomingdale’s bag…it’s one of the most well-known and beloved department stores in the world. You’ll understand so, how big a deal it is that Stuart was selling her own designs, including leather chokers and suede hobos, to the store at the tender age of fifteen. For her college years, Stuart relocated to Rhode Island to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, where fellow style maven Mary Katrantzou is one of the other famous members of alumni.

 

Going Pro: 

Jill launched her eponymous line in 1993, but it really hit the headlines in 1995, when multiple piece for the collection were used in one of the best chick flicks ever made – Clueless. If it’s good enough for Cher…

 

By the Numbers: 

Over 500 international Jill Stuart stores are dotted across the globe. Ready to wear collections, cosmetics, fragrances and jewellery make up just some of the intrepid designer’s many ventures, and the company is said to bring in sales in excess of $30 million annually in the US. It’s Asia, however, that give Stuart her biggest fans. The Jill Stuart label in Asia brings in a whopping $100 million annually.

 

In Her Words:

"I've always believed in my designs. I'm pretty aggressive and pretty persuasive and I won't stop once I've started on something."

 

 

Famous Fans

Jill gets a major thumbs up from some of our favourite fashionistas. Harry Potter start Emma Watson is sporting the designer’s style on the current Teen Vogue cover, while Zoe Kravitz, Lauren Conrad, Rooney Mara and Elizabeth Olsen have all been snapped in her designs. One of her latest and greatest fans is Beyonce’s achingly cool younger sister, Solange.