Maria Grachvogel

Last updated

Maria Grachvogel
Maria Grachvogel at the 20th Anniversary Party for 'How to Spend It' at Corinthia Hotel, London, UK - 25 November 2014.jpg
Maria Grachvogel in November 2014
Born (1969-07-11) 11 July 1969 (age 55)
London
NationalityBritish
OccupationFashion designer
SpouseMike Simcock
ChildrenSon, (Ansel Grachvogel-Simcock) born 2010
Website www.mariagrachvogel.com

Maria Grachvogel (born 11 July 1969) [1] is a British fashion designer. Grachvogel designs under her own label, has a store in London and regularly stages shows at London Fashion Week. Her clients have included Emma Thompson, [2] Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, and Victoria Beckham, [3] who has modelled for her at London Fashion Week.

Contents

Early life and career

Maria Grachvogel was born in London [4] to a Polish father and Irish mother. She was a keen designer as a teenager, creating her first collection at the age of 14. On leaving school she initially pursued a career in the City to raise capital to start her own business, passing a London Stock Exchange examination at the age of 17. [5]

Design career

Grachvogel's first fashion business was a partnership with a friend and fellow designer. After the partnership ended, she briefly returned to working in the City, but resumed designing within six months. She founded her own company in January 1991, aged 21, with a collection of nine dresses. [5] She exhibited at London Fashion Week for the first time in 1994, and staged her first catwalk show there in 1995. [1]

Grachvogel attracted international attention [5] when Victoria Beckham appeared as a model in her February 2000 catwalk show at London Fashion Week. Beckham appeared first in green satin hot pants, followed by a flamenco-styled crimson gown, [6] and reappeared at the end of the show in a long off-the-shoulder red dress. [7]

Later that year Grachvogel again attracted publicity when she designed a dress hand-sewn with 2,000 diamonds worth approximately £250,000, (Now worth upwards of £5,000,000) for her September show. [8] The dress was a long black silk evening gown slashed to the thigh, with the diamonds in rows on the bodice. The diamonds were set in 18-carat gold and totalled 190 carats in weight. [8] The dress was modelled by Jodie Kidd, and formed the finale to the show. [5]

Grachvogel launched her store in 2001, based in Sloane Street, London. [1] Her designs include "Magic Pants", trousers without pockets or side seams designed to give the wearer a smooth silhouette. [9] In 2011 the store moved to Culford Gardens, London. [10]

Personal life

Grachvogel married Mike Simcock, an investment banker, [3] on her 40th birthday in July 2009. [11] She gave birth to a son in March 2010. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Beckham</span> English fashion designer and singer (born 1974)

Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, the group became the best-selling female group of all time. After the Spice Girls disbanded in 2001, Beckham signed with Virgin Records, to release her self-titled debut solo album, which produced two UK Top 10 singles. Beckham has also become an internationally recognised style icon and fashion designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donatella Versace</span> Italian fashion luxury designer (born 1955)

Donatella Francesca Versace, sometimes simply referred to mononymously as Donatella, is an Italian fashion designer, businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the development of the brand and in particular its combining of Italian luxury with pop culture and celebrity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberta Ferretti</span> Italian fashion designer

Alberta Ferretti is an Italian fashion designer and dressmaker. She designed for her namesake brand Alberta Ferretti from its foundation in 1981 to 2024, and designed for Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti until 2014. Her showroom is in Milan, Italy but her studio is in her native village of Cattolica, near Rimini, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elie Saab</span> Lebanese fashion designer (born 1964)

Elie Saab is a Lebanese fashion designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miuccia Prada</span> Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur

Miuccia Bianchi Prada is an Italian billionaire fashion designer and businesswoman. She is the head designer of Prada and the founder of its subsidiary Miu Miu. As of October 2021, Forbes estimated her net worth at US$4.8 billion. In August 2021, Bloomberg estimated her net worth to be $6.6 billion, ranking 430th in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whale tail</span> Part of a thong or G-string

Whale tail is the Y-shaped rear portion of a thong or G-string when visible above the waistline of low-rise pants, shorts, or skirts that resembles a whale's tail. Popularized by a number of female celebrities including Amy Dumas, Christina Aguilera, Victoria Beckham, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, displaying whale tails became popular in the early 2000s, together with the popularity of low-rise jeans and thong panties; but quickly waned within the decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">See-through clothing</span> Garment through which the wearers body or undergarments can be seen

See-through clothing is any garment of clothing made with lace, mesh or sheer fabric that allows the wearer's body or undergarments to be seen through its fabric. See-through fabrics were fashionable in Europe in the eighteenth century. There was a "sheer fashion trend" starting with designer clothing from 2008. See-through or sheer fabric, particularly in skintone colours, is sometimes called illusion, as in 'illusion bodice' due to giving the impression of exposed flesh, or a revealing ensemble.

Scott Henshall is a British fashion designer, philanthropist, TV personality and occasional fashion journalist.

Roland Mouret is a French fashion designer.

Ben de Lisi is an American-born fashion designer based in London. He is best known for his collections with high street store Debenhams, and as a mentor and judge on the television series Project Catwalk.

Jonathan Saunders is a Scottish fashion designer, known for his work with prints and use of traditional silk screening techniques. Celebrities who have worn his designs include Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Sienna Miller and Michelle Obama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engagement dress of Catherine Middleton</span>

Catherine Middleton wore a blue Issa dress during the photocall for her engagement to Prince William of Wales on 16 November 2010, at St. James's Palace. The silk wrap dress matched her engagement ring, and sold out soon after its debut. It contributed to the start of "the Kate Middleton effect", Middleton's impact on the fashion industry, and sparked a trend in "little blue dresses".

Cutler and Gross is a British luxury eyewear brand, founded in London by opticians Graham Cutler and Tony Gross in 1969. The frames are handmade in the brand's atelier in Italy, and have been worn by the likes of Madonna, Javier Bardem, Bill Nighy, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherri Hill</span> American fashion designer

Sherri Hill is an American fashion designer and businesswoman who specializes in formal evening wear.

Jess Cartner-Morley is a British journalist. She has been the fashion editor of The Guardian since 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gert-Johan Coetzee</span> South African fashion designer

Gert-Johan Coetzee, is a South African fashion artist. His fashion atelier is based in Linden, Johannesburg in Gauteng province. He specialises in couture red carpet gowns, he also designs ready-to-wear range. Coetzee is known for dressing South African and international celebrities at red-carpet events.

Clare Waight Keller is a British stylist and fashion designer, who has served as the artistic director for a number of luxury fashion houses and brands, including Pringle of Scotland, Chloé, and Givenchy. In 2023, she launched a collection with Japanese mass-market brand Uniqlo.2024

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I'll Deal with Him Later</span> 2nd episode of the 1st season of Killing Eve

"I'll Deal with Him Later" is the second episode of the BBC America television show Killing Eve. It aired on 15 April 2018 in the United States and 22 September 2018 in the United Kingdom.

<i>The Simpsons Balenciaga</i> 2021 animated Simpsons fashion film

The Simpsons | Balenciaga is a 2021 animated short film based on the television series The Simpsons. The production staff of The Simpsons collaborated with French/Spanish luxury fashion house Balenciaga to produce the film that premiered on October 2, 2021 during Paris Fashion Week. The ten-minute film, directed by David Silverman, parodies the fashion industry and highlights Balenciaga's recent clothing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illusion of Kate Moss</span> Video illusion of Kate Moss from fashion show

The illusion of Kate Moss is an art piece first shown at the conclusion of the Alexander McQueen runway show The Widows of Culloden. It consists of a short film of English model Kate Moss dancing slowly while wearing a long, billowing gown of white chiffon, projected life-size within a glass pyramid in the centre of the show's catwalk. Although sometimes referred to as a hologram, the illusion was made using a 19th-century theatre technique called Pepper's ghost.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Maria Grachvogel". Debrett's People of Today . Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  2. ↑ Heard, Chris (16 February 2004). "Glamour on Bafta's red carpet". BBC News . Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  3. 1 2 Demetriou, Danielle (18 April 2007). "My Home: Maria Grachvogel on making the switch from fashion to interiors". The Independent . Retrieved 12 June 2010.[ dead link ]
  4. ↑ "My Secret Life: Maria Grachvogel, fashion designer". The Independent . 29 September 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Cartner-Morley, Jess (21 February 2001). "Cutting edge". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  6. ↑ Cartner-Morley, Jess (17 February 2000). "'Petrified' Posh's catwalk debut". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  7. ↑ "Posh spices up Fashion Week". BBC News. 16 February 2000. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Diamond dress lights up London". BBC News. 24 September 2000. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  9. ↑ "Maria Grachvogel's magic pants". The Times . London. 10 September 2008. p. 11.
  10. ↑ "Fitting Room". Sloane Square. October 2011. pp. 26–27. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  11. ↑ Rhodes, Julie Anne (27 July 2009). "The official couturier says 'I do'". Collective Review. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  12. ↑ "Baby News!". Maria Grachvogel Blog. 1 April 2010. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.