Catherine Maladrino (1963-Present)
BioGraphy
Catherine Malandrino was born in Grenoble, France. She studied in France at a high-class art school. She began her career with the design houses of Dorothee Bis. She eventually ended up coming to the united states to pursue her design career and worked un the known, Diane Von Furstenberg label as head designer. She had her own line presented in 1998 and a flag collection debuted and appealed to the celebrites of her time. In 2004 she opened her first store in New York City. She then opened a boutique back at her home in Paris. This world traveler now lives back at home with her husband, Bernard Aidan and their one son. (Stegemeyer 246). Catherine has a dream and needs to transcend the ordinary to satisfy her imagination. As a child, she sketched dresses and then made them, creating her own fantastic world. She has an innate desire to realize her vision(Richard 12).
Critical Analysis
Catherine Maladrino reflected the times of her era because she always kept up on the trends. In the 2000's it was imperative to dress the best celebrity. This is how you will most likely get your fashion label known and for it to stay current. Maladrino is a business minded person who knew when and where to capture her next audience. She was always able to play into both Haute Couture and stay very contemporary. She also designed jewelry and was always a fan of opening small boutiques where ever she could. This plays into her business mind. The more people saw the label the better it would grow.
Her start was in the 1990's and it was beiginning of start ups and infancy of the Internet in a unipolar world. After the fall of the berlin wall, America was the only great power of contention. Fashion's ellegant "uniform" its version of cloning, became the new proposal for the working woman who pushed their way into glass towers and cliced their heels....(Richard 17).
Her look employs knitwear, silks, and playful accents to showcase a rock-n-roll attitude. She has said that she wants to "design irresistable clothes that make woman desirble.(Stegemeyer 246)" This is so cliche that she says this becuase we have heard it before and its what every designer hopes to do. She really is able to capture the audience and buyers with her vivid color schemes and bold prints. She believed in true colors that were not altered. She is influenced by rythm, travel, dance music "the beat of the world" (Richard 9). She designs for a free spirit woman. Her iconic american flag dress spoke freedom with symbolic which plays into her aesthetic. "To be irreplacable, you have to be always differet"(Richard 11) she quoted Chanel which i thought was interesting that she is inspired by her.
Heidi Klum says, "Catherine's clothes are elegant, amusing, sensual, and wearable at the same time, always with a zest of difference. I like the care she gives to the details. In one of her dresses, I can go from a televsion set to a launch always elegant and witht he feeling of being unique. he fashion is multiple and fits my sking.( Richards 12) Although we do not all have model bodies, most say that she knows how to dress a woman day to night which is something not a lot of designers are able to do. rythm, travel, dance music "the beat of the world" (Richard 9)
Her start was in the 1990's and it was beiginning of start ups and infancy of the Internet in a unipolar world. After the fall of the berlin wall, America was the only great power of contention. Fashion's ellegant "uniform" its version of cloning, became the new proposal for the working woman who pushed their way into glass towers and cliced their heels....(Richard 17).
Her look employs knitwear, silks, and playful accents to showcase a rock-n-roll attitude. She has said that she wants to "design irresistable clothes that make woman desirble.(Stegemeyer 246)" This is so cliche that she says this becuase we have heard it before and its what every designer hopes to do. She really is able to capture the audience and buyers with her vivid color schemes and bold prints. She believed in true colors that were not altered. She is influenced by rythm, travel, dance music "the beat of the world" (Richard 9). She designs for a free spirit woman. Her iconic american flag dress spoke freedom with symbolic which plays into her aesthetic. "To be irreplacable, you have to be always differet"(Richard 11) she quoted Chanel which i thought was interesting that she is inspired by her.
Heidi Klum says, "Catherine's clothes are elegant, amusing, sensual, and wearable at the same time, always with a zest of difference. I like the care she gives to the details. In one of her dresses, I can go from a televsion set to a launch always elegant and witht he feeling of being unique. he fashion is multiple and fits my sking.( Richards 12) Although we do not all have model bodies, most say that she knows how to dress a woman day to night which is something not a lot of designers are able to do. rythm, travel, dance music "the beat of the world" (Richard 9)
Anylsis to Future Trends
She created the look the American Dream with her flag dresses (Richard 6). Madonna wore her design on tour which was a huge deal and a great moment to start her fame in the United States and now has been a client for over ten years. She dresses all celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Mary J Blige, and Eva Mendes. It is imperative that she dresses them because then people will see her designs and know where they came from.
Not only is she become this iconic fashion designer she also is a huge woman's activist. She started the "I am love" foundation with Mary J Blige and contributed a line of T-Shirts to empower woman and to give back. This makes her an unstoppable factor to our industry today. It is people like her that make a others look up to her. She has a full plate and still is able to come up with new designs all the time.
She will continue to be successful for many years to come because she has a different out look than most designers, "She wears(the client) that speak a universal language, the language of desire and love(Richard 23)
she always stays a year in advance, she believes in telling a long story, and a long journey of life. She plans to keep expanding her boutiques from Las Vegas to Tokoy to Russia as new collections arise (Richards 22)
(youtube) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMyE7uUXFR0
Works Cited
"Fashion, Beauty and Retail News - WWD.com." Fashion, Beauty and Retail News - WWD.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2012. <http://www.wwd.com>.
Stegemeyer, Anne, and Holly Alford. Who's who in fashion. 5th ed. New York: Fairchild Publications, 1988. Print.
Richard, Pascale, and Nancy Dunham. Catherine Malandrino. New York, NY: Assouline, 2008. Print.
"WGSN Fashion Trend Forecasting & Analysis | WGSN." WGSN Fashion Trend Forecasting & Analysis | WGSN. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2012. <http://www.wgsn.com.>
"YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com>.
Stegemeyer, Anne, and Holly Alford. Who's who in fashion. 5th ed. New York: Fairchild Publications, 1988. Print.
Richard, Pascale, and Nancy Dunham. Catherine Malandrino. New York, NY: Assouline, 2008. Print.
"WGSN Fashion Trend Forecasting & Analysis | WGSN." WGSN Fashion Trend Forecasting & Analysis | WGSN. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Sept. 2012. <http://www.wgsn.com.>
"YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com>.