Interview: Emerging Fashion Designer Stephen Mikhail On Designing For Celebrities, And The Trouble With Parsons
“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was one of my favorite books growing up,” said fashion designerStephen Mikhail, gazing up at the lamplights as he strolled through a snowy, Narnia-like Central Park in a self-designed plum, Astrakhan motorcycle jacket. “It made me believe in magic, which is so important to a, well, wardrobe like mine.” So does that make him the lion or the witch? “A little of both,” he answered, laughing mischievously. Mr. Mikhail is something of a wunderkind in the fashion world. Despite warnings from the Parsons faculty that he was moving too quickly, he threw caution to the wind, debuting his first collection at the precocious age of 19. The gamble paid off. In 2008, Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza was among the first celebrities spotted modeling a Mikhail, a list that has grown to include Olivia Wilde, Stephanie Pratt, andLindsay Lohan. MORE»
