Neiman Marcus, formerly Neiman-Marcus, is a luxury specialty retail department store operated by the Neiman Marcus Group in the United States. The company is headquartered in the One Marcus Square building in Downtown Dallas, Texas, and competes with other department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom, Von Maur and Bloomingdale's. The Neiman Marcus Group also owns Bergdorf Goodman specialty retail department stores on Fifth Avenue in New York City and a direct marketing division, Neiman Marcus Direct, which operates catalogue and online operations under the Horchow, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman names.

Christian Louboutin (pronounced [kʁis.tjɑ̃ lu.bu.tɛ̃]; b. 7 January 1963) is a French footwear designer whose footwear has incorporated shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature.

Louboutin was born in Paris and grew up in Paris's 12th arrondissement. He was the only son of Roger, an ébéniste, and Irene, a homemaker, and he has three sisters. He was expelled from school three times and ran away from home at the age of 12, at which point his indulgent mother allowed him to move out to live at a friend's house. Although Louboutin faced much opposition following his decision to leave school early, he claims that his resolve was strengthened after watching an interview on TV with Sophia Loren in which she introduced her sister, saying she had to leave school when she was only 12, but, when she turned 50, she got her degree. He later remarked, "Everybody applauded! And I thought, 'Well, at least if I regret it I'm going to be like the sister of Sophia Loren!'"

Landscape architect Louis Benech has been his partner since 1997. Louboutin and his partner spend time between their homes in Paris’s 1st arrondissement, a fisherman's cottage in Lisbon, a palace in Aleppo, a houseboat on the Nile christened Dahabibi-my love boat, and a house in Luxor. The Luxor domicile is a former craftsman’s workshop, made of earthen bricks, to which he has added an additional floor and a rooftop belvedere. Additionally, he also shares a 13th-century castle in the Vendée with his business partner Bruno Chamberlain.

Elba Esther Gordillo Morales (b. Comitán, Chiapas, February 6, 1945) is a Mexican politician, formerly affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) until 2006. She is also a leader of the (PANAL), or Partido Nueva Alianza, and leader for life of the 1.4 million strong National Education Workers' Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación or SNTE).

Gordillo joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in 1970 at the height of its "Dirty War". She has occupied several PRI positions including Secretary of Organization of the National Executive Council (1986–1987), General Secretary of the Council of National Popular Organizations (1997–2002), and General Secretary of the National Executive Council (2nd most important ranking position within the party).

Elba Esther Gordillo was decisive in Roberto Madrazo's triumph in the elections for the national presidency of the PRI held in 2000 after losing power for the first time in its history, bringing with her the backing of the powerful teachers' union.

Roland Mouret (born 1962 in Lourdes, France) is a French fashion designer.

His fashion training consisted of three months in a Parisian fashion college in 1979. In the 1980s Mouret worked as creative director with Gai Pied Hebdo, a Paris-based gay publication, and was an Act Up activist. When he left school to begin designing, he lacked skill in garment construction yet had "a native awareness of sensuality" that allowed him to create "irresistible" clothing. Sharai and André Meyers bought his line in 1998. After seven years and a move to New York, Mouret introduced his Galaxy dress in his Spring 2006 collection. Called the "dress of the season" by many, its ubiquity was such that Vogue magazine would later write that "for weeks you [couldn't] open a newspaper or magazine without seeing another young Hollywood A-lister wearing" it. Less than two months after the dress's runway debut, Mouret split with his backers in a move that shocked the fashion world. Mouret cited "managerial differences", but neither he nor the Meyerses has ever elaborated on the cause of the break-up.