This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2011)

Christian Lacroix
Christian Lacroix, 20 Years of Haute Couture on the Catwalk -Arles (FR) July 2008.
Born	(1951-05-16) May 16, 1951 (age 61) Caen, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Fashion designer
Labels	Christian Lacroix

Christian Marie Marc Lacroix (French pronunciation: [kʁistjɑ̃ lakʁwa]; born 16 May 1951) is a French fashion designer. The name may also refer to the company he founded.

Early life[link]

Lacroix was born in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône in southern France. At a young age he began sketching historical costumes and fashions. Lacroix graduated from high school in 1969 and moved to Montpellier, to study Art History at the University of Montpellier. In 1971, he enrolled at the Sorbonne in Paris. While working on a dissertation on dress in French 18th-century painting, Lacroix also pursued a program in museum studies at the École du Louvre. His aspiration during this time was to become a museum curator. It was during this time he met his future wife Françoise Rosenthiel, whom he married in 1974.

Christian Lacroix couture[link]

Christian Lacroix, 20 Years of Haute Couture on the Catwalk.

A Christian Lacroix gown on display in the "CONTRO-MODA" exhibition in Florence, Italy, at Palazzo Strozzi in 2007.

In 1987 he opened his own couture house. He began putting out ready-to-wear in 1988 drawing inspiration from diverse cultures. Critics commented that he did not seem to understand the type of clothing the working woman needed. In 1989, Lacroix launched jewelry, handbags, shoes, glasses, scarves and ties (along with ready-to-wear). In this same year, he opened boutiques within Paris, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, Toulouse, London, Geneva and Japan.

With his background in historical costume and clothing, Lacroix soon made headlines with his opulent, fantasy creations, including the short puffball skirt ("le pouf"), rose prints, and low décolleté necklines. He quoted widely from other styles—from fashion history (the corset and the crinoline), from folklore, and from many parts of the world—and he mixed his quotations in a topsy-turvy manner. He favored the hot colors of the Mediterranean region, a hodgepodge of patterns, and experimental fabrics, sometimes handwoven in local workshops.

In 2009 the fashion house, owned by duty-free retailer Falic Fashion Group, put the business into administration and laid off all but 12 workers. Lacroix's A/W 2009 Haute Couture was privately financed by Lacroix and each model was paid €50. "I didn't want to cry," said Lacroix "I want to continue, maybe in a different way, with a small atelier. What I really care about is the women who do this work" Lacroix said about his last Haute Couture collection. Throughout its history it never turned a profit and reported a €10 million loss in 2008.^[1]

Diffusion lines[link]

Lacroix's diffusion lines include:

His collections during 1994 were based on old culture and folklore, as well as fables and the past. In 1995, he launched a towel line which contained a fashion and lifestyle side, which represent how the two intertwine ("two sides of the same coin").

In 1996, he launched a jeans line. He included past traditions from all around the world, continuing the line with even more on ethnic arts.

In 1997, the Art de la Table line was launched by him in partnership with Christofle. A licensing agreement was also reached in this year with Pronuptian in which he could launch his Christian Lacroix Marriage line.

In 1999, he launched his first line of floral pers, and in 2000 he finished a line of novelty accessories which included semi-precious jewelry.

In 2001, Lacroix also launched a children's line and in 2002, he launched a perfume, Bazar, created by Bertrand Duchaufour, Jean-Claude Ellena and Emilie Copperman.

In 2004, Lacroix launched a lingerie for women line, as well as a menswear line.

He is known for his theatrical style which came from his work while in the theatre. This usually shows up with his use of colour in the collections he designs. Along with this, he is also known for his 'le pouf' dress (featuring the ball skirt)

Christian Lacroix Rouge, a perfume created by Lacroix exclusively for Avon Products.

He served as the Creative Director for the Italian fashion house Emilio Pucci from 2002–2005. He left on agreeable terms as he and the house believed that since he had other pursuits, it would be unfair to the house to not put in the energy required for future collections along with his other work.

Christian Lacroix has designed many dresses for Hollywood stars; among them, he is responsible for designing Christina Aguilera's wedding dress and in the 1990s was famed as being a favourite designer of Edina Monsoon in the UK sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (for which the house drew dubious credit).

He has also been the designer of the new uniform of Air France staff and crew in 2004 and pyjamas signed by him are handed out to passengers travelling on Air France First Class (L'Espace Premier).

Today, Lacroix has 60 points of sale within France (department stores included). Around the world, Lacroix has 1,000 total points of sale.

For Winter 2007, he has partnered with Avon cosmetics to introduce a new fragrance exclusive to Avon called Christian Lacroix Rouge for women (plus body lotion and shower gel) and Christian Lacroix Noir for men (plus after shave lotion and shower gel). His Avon product line was expanded with the release of Christian Lacroix Absynthe in the Spring of 2009, Christian Lacroix Absynthe For Him in the autumn of 2009, Christian Lacroix Nuit in fall 2011 and Christian Lacroix Nuit For Him in winter 2011.

Christian Lacroix's costume designs for the opera, theatre, dance and music were displayed at the exhibition "Christian Lacroix Costumier" at the National Museum of Singapore from March to June 2009.

In 2011 he started collaborating with the Barcelona-based clothing brand Desigual.^[2]

Director of interior design work[link]

Christian Lacroix has completed interior design work at several landmark hotels, including the Hotel Le Petit Moulin in Spring, 2005; the Hotel Bellechasse, right in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Paris), in 2007 (a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World); and in 2010 Le Notre Dame hotel just a step from the cathedral Notre-Dame-de-Paris.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Christian Lacroix

• Christian Lacroix Official site
• Christian Lacroix designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
• Sewing patterns by Christian Lacroix
• Christian Lacroix interview with Harper's BAZAAR Australia
• "Christian Lacroix Fashion Show at the V&A". Fashion, Jewellery & Accessories. Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/fashion/fashion_motion/christian_lacroix/index.html. Retrieved 24 July 2007. 
• "Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies". Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php. 
• NNDB
• Christian Lacroix interview
• Christian Lacroix – 20 years of Haute Couture, Arles

Chanel Iman
Iman at the 2009 Victoria's Secret fashion show at The Armory in New York City
Born	Chanel Iman Robinson (1990-12-01) December 1, 1990 (age 21)[1] Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Height	1.75 metres (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Measurements	32-23-33 (US); 81-58-84 (EU)[2]
Dress size	32 (EU), 2 (US)[2]
Manager	http://www.imgmodels.com http://www.viva-paris.com, http://www.dmanagementgroup.com,
Website
http://www.chaneliman.com

Chanel Iman Robinson (born December 1, 1990^[1]), known professionally as Chanel Iman,^[3] is an American fashion model perhaps best known for her work as a Victoria's Secret model.

Early life[link]

Iman was born in Atlanta, Georgia on December 1, 1990. She grew up in Los Angeles, California. She and her mother co-own "The Red Bag Boutique" in Los Angeles.^[4] Her mother is half Korean and half African American, and her father is African American.^[5]

Career[link]

Iman started modeling with Ford Models at the age of 13 as a child model in Los Angeles, California. She flew to New York in 2006 and won third place in Ford's Supermodel of the World contest.^[6] Shortly after, she signed on with the agency.

Iman in the Christian Dior Haute Couture fashion show in July 2009

The New York Times wrote a feature article on her, "A Model from Day 1," in which Iman explained that she wanted to be a model her entire life.^[3] She was presented on the May 2007 cover of American Vogue as one of the “World’s Next Top Models.”^[7] Style.com also featured Iman as a rising star in 2007.^{[citation needed]} The same year she attended fashion's biggest gala,^{[citation needed]} The Met Ball, where she was named Vogue's second Best Dressed of the Week in her sleeveless Zac Posen dress.^{[citation needed]} In February and July she appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue, with Karlie Kloss and Ali Michael, photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, then in November 2009 she appeared on the cover again, this time with Jourdan Dunn. Iman's other covers include Italian Elle, i-D, Dubai and Ukrainian Harper's Bazaar, Lula, Korean, Teen, and American Vogue. She has walked the runway for fashion houses and designers including Balenciaga, Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, and Stella McCartney. She has appeared in editorials for Allure, Dubai, American, and Ukrainian Harpers Bazaar, V, i-D, Pop, Italian, British, and Indonesian Elle, Italian Vanity Fair, and several international Vogues. She has appeared in advertising campaigns for high-end brands like, Bottega Veneta, GAP, Ralph Lauren, Express and DKNY.^[6]

She has walked in the 2009, 2010^[8] and 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.^{[citation needed]} In 2010, she became a Victoria's Secret Angel and was used in several of the company's campaigns.^{[citation needed]}

Television[link]

In October 2007, Iman appeared with her mother^[9] on an episode of the Tyra Banks Show.^[10] On March 21, 2009, she appeared as a correspondent in MTV's brief revival of House of Style with Bar Refaeli.^[9][11]

On September 9, 2009, Iman appeared as a guest judge on the two-hour season premiere of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 13.

Personal life[link]

Early in 2010, Iman opened a clothing boutique in Culver City, California called The Red Bag with the help of her mother.^[12]

Activism[link]

In 2011, Chanel became one of a handful of celebrity faces attached to USAID and Ad Council’s FWD campaign, an awareness push to combat the famine, war, and drought in the Horn of Africa. Chanel joined Uma Thurman, Geena Davis, and Josh Hartnett to star in YouTube videos that ask America to “FWD the facts” about the crisis affecting more than 13 million people.^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chanel Iman

• Chanel Iman at the Fashion Model Directory
• Official website
• The Internet Fashion Database

Erin Heatherton
Heatherton at the Custo Barcelona Spring 2009 collection
Born	Erin Heather Bubley (1989-03-04) March 4, 1989 (age 23)[1] Skokie, Illinois, United States
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Hair color	Blonde[1]
Eye color	Green[1]
Measurements	33-24½-34 (US); 83-62-86 (EU)[1]
Dress size	(US) 4 ; (EU) 38[1]
Manager	Marilyn Agency

Erin Heatherton (born Erin Heatherton Bubley; March 4, 1989) is an American fashion model.

Life and career[link]

Erin Heatherton grew up in Skokie, Illinois, the daughter of Laura and Mark Bubley.^[2] She attended Solomon Schechter Day School, a Jewish day school, as well as Niles North High School.^[3][4] Heatherton was discovered vacationing on South Beach, Miami, and eventually signed with the Marilyn Agency.^[1][5] She launched her career in New York City, walking for Diane von Fürstenberg, and has since modeled for Shiatzy Chen, Oscar de la Renta, Tommy Hilfiger and others.^[1] She has appeared on the cover of D, Grazia, Velvet, and MUSE.^[1][6]

Heatherton is featured on the Victoria's Secret website and is currently a Victoria's Secret Angel. She walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.^[1] Heatherton was a featured model in the 2010 Victoria's Secret SWIM catalog,^[7] as well as the "Body by Victoria" campaign.^[8]

Heatherthon has been dating Leonardo DiCaprio since December 2011.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Erin Heatherton

• Erin Heatherton at the Fashion Model Directory
• Photos of Erin Heatherton at style.com

This biography article about a United States model is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e