Fashion prodigy Zac Posen shuttered his fashion label on Friday. Here's how he went from enrolling in a top design school at 16 to becoming a household name with celeb clients like Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Zac Posen was born and raised in New York City.
He went on to study womenswear at London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of Arts London.
In 2000, he designed a gown made entirely from thin leather strips that was later put on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum — named after the UK's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert — in their "Curvaceous" exhibit.
Source: Britannica, Victoria and Albert Museum
In 2001, after graduating, Posen returned to New York City and immediately began attracting media attention for his talent at such a young age. He had his first independent runway show, for a Fall 2002 ready-to-wear collection, in February 2002, Vogue reports.
Posen set up shop in his parents' living room and quickly started designing clothes. His parents gave him an allowance of $15 a day. This allowed Posen, then only 21 and fresh out of fashion school, to design nearly three collections' worth of clothing only a few months after graduating.
His style was noted for its Old Hollywood glamour, and he knew many soon-to-be-famous people from his childhood who were more than willing to be photographed in his gowns, boosting his media presence around the world.
In September 2002, after Posen's Spring 2003 Collection was presented at New York Fashion Week, Time magazine reported that industry experts were referring to him as the "Next Big Thing in Frocks."
He was courted by heavy-hitters in the business, such as LVMH's president Sidney Toledano.
"All fashion indices point to [Posen] as the Next Big Thing in Frocks," Time magazine noted in 2002. "Magazines have written worshipfully about him. Manolo Blahnik collaborates with him on shoes. Posen's shows feature A-list models like Naomi Campbell, whom he pays in clothes. And during last week's Fashion Week, when all the most influential sheiks of chic were in Manhattan, Bloomingdale's devoted a row of windows to his work."
Source: Time, New York Times
That same year, actress Natalie Portman wore a midi-dress from Posen's first collection to the "Star Wars" premiere. This was the moment credited with turning Posen into a star designer.
Posen's quick rise to the top and his youth earned him the title of a "wunderkind."
In 2003, Vogue wrote that Posen was just "22 years old and Designer of the Year five minutes out of fashion college."
Source: Vogue
In 2004, rapper Sean Combs held a 50% ownership stake in Posen's namesake brand. By that time, the designer was regularly dressing celebrities like Naomi Campbell and Katie Holmes.
"I see Zac as someone who shares the same drive and vision that I have," Combs said in 2004, according to Vogue UK. "I also saw an opportunity for Sean John [Combs' fashion label] to make an impact with Zac Posen by giving him the tools and resources that he needed for his business to grow and mature. He has been able to establish a real profile as an American contemporary and evening designer. He dresses amazing women, the stores love him and clearly he is a force to be contended with in the designer ready-to-wear scene."
Source: Vogue Business, Vogue UK
Posen won the prestigious Swarovski's Perry Ellis Award for Womenswear at the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2004.
Source: The Core Club, CFDA, New York Post
He quickly became a red carpet favorite, with the mermaid gown he created for Gwyneth Paltrow for the 2007 Academy Awards noted as one of Posen's most memorable looks ever.
Vogue's Nicole Phelps wrote that though Posen's career was not without its ups and downs, he was able to fare better than his industry peers because "he was early to discover and capitalize on fashion's growing importance in the entertainment sphere."
Source: Vogue Business, The Guardian, Oscars
In 2008, Posen released a capsule collection with Target that launched in Australia. In 2010, Posen was selected by the retailer to create a GO International collection — "an innovative program designed to provide affordable fashion created by world-renowned designers."
In a press statement released by Target in 2010, the retailer's senior vice president, Trish Adams, said that "Zac Posen brings larger-than-life style to his Target collection, creating a covetable line with a modern edge. We are excited to share his extraordinary talent with our guests, providing accessible off-the-runway fashion at great prices."
In 2012, Posen was named a judge on Project Runway, where he remained for six seasons. He departed after the 2017 season, at the same time Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn left.
Source: People, Business Insider
As of 2013, Posen was living in Soho with his partner, fashion editor Christopher Niquet.
In a 2013 interview with the New York Times, Posen said he and Niquet lived in SoHo, with their three dogs: a poodle named Tina Turner, two miniature dachshunds named Betty Blue and Candy Darling.
"Having grown up in Soho, the nostalgic search for the late '80s-'90s look — which doesn't exist on the youth in Soho anymore — is something that I grew up with, so it's not intriguing to me," he said in the interview. "I find the old women uptown very inspiring.
Source: New York Times
Posen also launched an affordable bridal collection with David's Bridal called "Truly Zac Posen."
The first collection had ivory dresses ranging from $850 to $1,350, and social dresses ranging from $195 to $225.
"I have such a wide fan base and audience base and [a] diverse base," Posen told USA Today in 2013, ahead of the line's 2014 official launch. "I wanted to find a place where I could actually address them and dress them."
Source: USA Today
He designed two gowns for Rihanna to wear at her inaugural Diamond Ball in 2014, one of which was a gorgeous pink, curve-fitting satin gown.
The look is considered to also be one of his most famous, The Guardian reports. At the time, InStyle wrote that the gown might be "Rihanna's most spectacular look — ever."
Source: The Guardian, InStyle
Posen was named the creative director of Brooks Brothers Women's Collection in 2014.
He remains the creative director of the Brooks Brothers' womenswear collection.
Source: The Guardian, Brooks Brothers, Associated Press
In 2015, Posen and Naomi Campbell introduced that year's upcoming fall collection.
Campbell wore a stunning glitter maroon ball gown, which has also become one of his most memorable looks. That year, he was also named Designer of the Year by Women's Wear Daily and Variety.
In 2016, Posen created a runway collection inspired by African Princess Elizabeth of Toro (now part of Uganda), who, in the 1960s, became the first East African to be admitted to England's Bar Association — and later that decade, the first black woman to appear in a Vogue magazine spread.
For the showing of his Fall 2016 collection, Posen chose mostly black models to present the collection at New York Fashion Week.
"Since the inspiration was Elizabeth of Toro, it made sense to have a casting reflecting this," Posen he said of the collection's debut. "Their presence and the diversity of the casting complemented the collection and made it more striking. Within this global environment — diversity is very important and it is something that has always been equally important to me as well as a key component of my collections, whether it is shapes, sizes, or skin color."
Posen made headlines once again with his light-up Cinderella-inspired gown for Claire Danes at the 2016 Met Gala. The dress is considered not just one of his most notable designs, but also one of his best creations.
The following year, he released a cookbook called "Cooking with Zac: Recipes From Rustic to Refined," which featured a collection of his favorite recipes.
In 2017, he released the Netflix documentary "House of Z," which chronicled the highs and lows of his career.
"Fashion has a dark side," Posen said in the documentary. "Not all runways and lipstick and fishtail gowns."
The documentary also touched upon Posen's quick rise to the top and how failure had humbled him over the years.
Source: Variety
In 2018, he designed Princess Eugenie of York's wedding reception gown, which, as noted by Yahoo, was "inspired by the blush hue of the English rose."
Source: Business Insider, Insider
He designed Delta Air Lines' new employee uniform that same year. It was the first time the company's "above-wing" and "below-the-wing" uniforms had been updated since 2006 and 2000 respectively.
("Above-wing" employees refer to those such as pilots and flight attendants, while "below-the-wing" refers to those such as baggage handlers and maintenance crew.)
In order to create the collection, Posen told Travel + Leisure that he shadowed multiple Delta employees so he could create an outfit which would accommodate all their needs. He also created a special color for the uniform: Passport Plum, which is a mixture of Delta's former dark blue and red colors.
"This project and collaboration was something that evolved over three years and I really think it was handled in an incredible way for a corporation," Posen told Travel + Leisure in 2018. "I believe deeply in the power of glamour and the power of an experience. And the excitement of flying and definitely the nostalgia of the golden age. But it's really about taking that essence and creating a new future."
Source: Travel + Leisure
In 2019, Posen partnered with GE to create 3D print-inspired dresses for the Met Gala.
He also designed two gowns for model Winnie Harlow at the Harper's BAZAAR Icons Party and a bright pink ball gown for Sarah Jessica Parker to wear at the New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala.
He has been a longtime favorite of many noteworthy celebrities, from Sarah Jessica Parker to Oprah Winfrey — and his namesake label is sure to be missed by them.
On November 1, Posen announced he was closing his iconic namesake label.
He told Women's Wear Daily that the experience was "horrible, pretty intense, and surreal." He also shared that the brand had been in the middle of a sale process, and they'd tried for months to "prevent this from happening" before he and his board unfortunately ran out of time.
The company ceased operations immediately, and it was announced that the Spring 2020 collection Posen had shown earlier in the year would not be shipped. Speaking to WWD, he said that this was a "tough time in retail and in the industry."
"My partners and I tried everything possible within our means to find solutions to keep it going," he told the outlet. "[But] the clock ran out."
Source: WWD
But Posen was sure to let all of his fans know that his label's abrupt shutdown was not the end for him. If anything, this was the start of a new beginning.
"Hopefully, I'll have a long career ahead," he told WWD. "I need to take a little time to think about my options ... I've been focused on my brand for a long time. Now, this is a new stage. I will always have me. I will always have my creativity."
Source: WWD
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