Zac Posen Design

Zac Posen is the youngest of this group, but every bit as talented. Before even presenting his first full collection he was being cited as a talent to watch. His dresses have graced some of the who's who of Hollywood and he counts among his friends and supporters Claire Danes and Naomi Campbell. His pretty, feminine clothes don't hurt his cause, either.

When he was 16, Posen spent his summer vacation at New York City's Parsons School of Design. Posen was trained at Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design in London. While doing his training Posen regularly dressed his society pals in his creations. One of his dresses is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The dress is made from six-foot strips of leather held together at the seams with hundreds of hooks and eyes.

Posen grew up in New York and is the son of an artist father and a lawyer mother. For Posen, the business of fashion is a family affair. His mother, now the CEO of his company, Outspoke, taught him to sew. His sister, Alexandra, is cited as the inspiration for his designs; she now serves as the creative director of Outspoke.

One of Posen's goals in fashion is to accomplish his mission of inclusivity of fashion. "The biggest thing politically within fashion is that the clothing should be displayed on different body shapes." In his 2002 show he included 'real' women along side of the models. "I don't believe in one ideal beauty," he says. "You have to reinterpret what you do based on whether the body belongs to a real woman who is 5-foot-2 or a model who is 6-foot-1. In its present state," he continues, "fashion is killing women's body image of themselves." Now, if only more designers thought that way...