Kors' affinity for fashion started when he was very young, with his mother theorizing that his interest may have been sparked by his exposure to the apparel industry through her modeling career. Kors, at the age of 5, even redesigned his mother's wedding dress for her second marriage. As a teen, Kors began designing clothes and selling them out of his parents' basement, which he renamed the Iron Butterfly. However, he dropped out after only nine months and took a job at a boutique called Lothar's across from
Bergdorf Goodman on
57th Street in
Midtown Manhattan, where he started as a salesperson and went on to become both the designer and visual display head for the store. In 1981, Kors launched his Michael Kors women's label at
Bergdorf Goodman. In 1990, the company launched KORS Michael Kors as a licensee. A Chapter 11 filing in 1993, caused by the closure of the licensing partner for KORS Michael Kors, forced him to put the KORS line on hold until 1997. 's first term official portrait showing her wearing a dress designed by Kors In 1997, Kors was named the first women's ready-to-wear designer for French luxury fashion house Celine. In his tenure at Celine, Kors designed successful accessories and a critically acclaimed ready-to-wear line. He left Celine in October 2003 to concentrate on his own brand. In 2002, Kors launched its first line of menswear. In 2004, he launched the MICHAEL Michael Kors and the KORS Michael Kors lines, which included women’s footwear and bags as well as ready-to-wear apparel.
Tiffany Haddish,
Reese Witherspoon,
Lupita Nyong'o,
Olivia Wilde,
Blake Lively,
Kate Hudson,
Rene Russo,
Jennifer Lawrence,
Taylor Swift,
Kate Middleton,
Hillary Clinton,
Angelina Jolie,
Jennifer Lopez,
Emily Blunt,
Kristen Stewart,
Ariana DeBose, Vice President
Kamala Harris,
Heidi Klum,
Catherine Zeta-Jones,
Sigourney Weaver, and
Ciara.
Michelle Obama wore a black sleeveless dress from the designer for her first term official portrait as First Lady and later sported Kors again at the 2015 State of the Union address. , 2010
Viola Davis wore a custom Michael Kors Collection gown when accepting a Golden Globe for best supporting actress in a motion picture for her role in
Fences.
Kate Hudson and
Olivia Wilde both wore gowns by the designer to the 2016 Golden Globes, and
Emily Blunt, nominated for her role in
Into the Woods, wore a white custom gown by the designer in 2015.
Joan Allen wore his gown when she was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in
The Contender. As creative director of Celine, Kors designed many outfits for actresses to wear on screen, including
Gwyneth Paltrow in
Possession; and
Rene Russo in
The Thomas Crown Affair. One of his gowns was worn by
Alicia Keys for her performance at
Barack Obama's inaugural ball on January 21, 2013. ,
Jac Jagaciak,
Andreea Diaconu, and
Liu Wen among others walking for Michael Kors in 2014 Kors was a judge on the
Emmy-nominated reality television program
Project Runway, which aired on
Bravo for five seasons; subsequent seasons aired on
Lifetime. On December 18, 2012, it was announced that Kors would be leaving
Project Runway, to be replaced by fellow designer
Zac Posen. Kors returned to
Project Runway in 2016 as a guest judge on the season 15 finale. In January 2014,
Forbes reported that Kors reached a personal fortune in excess of $1 billion. By that time, Michael Kors Holdings had already "minted two billionaires":
Silas Chou and
Lawrence Stroll. == Other honors ==