How Michael Kors Became A Fashion Empire

For the longest time, popular opinion had Hilfiger, Lauren and Klein as the first fathers of American fashion. But be in no doubt: the pantheon has a fourth. Michael Kors speaks about famous friends, billion-dollar buyouts (hello, Versace) and the ’70s street-style redux.

- Teo Van Den Broeke

Much like Apple Pie à la Mode, resistance to gun control and Bill Clinton’s saxophone, Michael Kors is an American institution. Kors, who launched his eponymous line in 1981, has since transformed his namesake brand into a global powerhouse, with an annual turnover a smidge under R69 billion. What's more, Capri Holdings – the parent company formerly known as the Michael Kors Group which owns both Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo – recently acquired Milanese super brand Versace for a cool R31 billion. Not bad for a lad from a backwater town on New York’s Long Island.

BUT

what is it about the Michael Kors brand that has such universal appeal? And how did the man himself get where he is today? A good place to start might be with his autumn/winter ’19 men’s and women’s show. Mounted on a brisk February morning in the Ciprianiowned former National City Bank Building on New York’s Wall Street, Kors’ runway featured appearances from Bella and Gigi Hadid, his front row consisted of Kerry Washington, Kate Hudson, Catherine ZetaJones and Michael Douglas, while the closing performance was given by Barry Manilow, who sang a rollicking version of “Copacabana”. And that’s before you get to the clothes. A glitter coated, dollar-flickingly expensive tour de extravagance, it was an exercise in overstated glamour, which demonstrated not only Kors’ talent for putting on a spectacle, but also his peerless star-pulling power.