Zac Posen is one of Manhattan's most
popular designers about town and the girls-about-town flock to him
for sultry, body-hugging, thirties- and forties-inflected party frocks. The
old-Hollywood glamour of his evening looks makes them a natural choice for young
stunning nominees on the Other Coast, too: Natalie Portman, Gwyneth Paltrow,
and Beyoncé have all made the trip down the red carpet in a Posen showstopper.
With this in mind, it's easy to
forget that Posen isn't some old head: He was born in 1980. But he is a native
New Yorker and has benefited from the support of his sophisticated Soho family
(his father is a painter, his mother—now the company chairman—is a corporate
attorney, and his sister, Alexandra, is his creative director). Posen won a
coveted internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute (where
he got a good look at the dazzling bias work of Madame Vionnet), and then
headed to London to study at Central Saint Martins. In typically precocious
fashion, a dress he made there was chosen to become part of the permanent
collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Posen returned to New York in 2001
and almost immediately was making himself known at Gen Art's Fresh Faces show.
Offers from LVMH and the Gucci Group followed, but with equally typical
bravado, Posen ignored them and launched his own label. Three years later he
received the Swarovski-Perry Ellis Award for Womenswear from the CFDA, and the
rest, it would seem, is party-dress history.
Sources
Style.om
Google Images
