Tomas Maier (born Thomas Maier, 1956-) is a German-born designer who is currently Head of Creative Design at Italian luxury goods company Bottega Veneta, a subsidiary of the Gucci Group. Tomas Maier has trained and worked with some of the most prestigious luxury fashion houses in France, Italy and Germany.

Maier was born in Pforzheim, where he attended a Waldorf school. His professional training began in Paris at the Ecole de la chambre syndicale de la couture parisienne and subsequently he worked for Guy Laroche, Sonia Rykiel, where he designed menswear for eight years, Revillon, where he was Creative Director for four years, and Hermès, where he was responsible for women's ready-to-wear and also worked with leather goods and accessories. In 1999, he quit all his contracts and moved to Chicago.

He was recruited by Tom Ford to become Head of Creative Design at Bottega Veneta in June 2001, when the company was acquired by the Gucci Group, and has been widely credited with reinventing the label as a benchmark of understated luxury by using the highest quality materials coupled with a simple, label-free aesthetic. Maier’s first act upon taking over at Bottega Veneta was to design the Cabat bag, a woven leather sack with two handles that has since become one of the label’s top-selling items. Maier has increased Bottega Veneta’s sales eight hundred per cent between 2001 and 2011.

Suzy Menkes, OBE (born 24 December 1943) has been head fashion reporter and Editor for the International Herald Tribune since 1988. In that time she has written over 1.7 million words in the paper.^{[citation needed]}

Menkes was born in Britain. She was educated at Brighton and Hove High School. In the 1960s, she went as a teenager to Paris to study dressmaking. Viewing her first couture show at Nina Ricci sparked her interest in high fashion.

On her return from Paris, she read history and English literature at Cambridge University. After Cambridge, she worked for The Times reporting on fashion. In addition to her journalism, she has written several books, particularly on British Royal style.

Among Menkes's trademarks is her signature pompadour. She lives in Paris, is widowed and has three sons and three granddaughters. She holds the Legion d'Honneur in France and a British OBE.

In November 2009, she appeared as one of the judges on the finale of Lifetime TV series Project Runway. In 1996 she appeared in the second 'Last Shout' special in British comedy Absolutely Fabulous, playing herself.