Through our Game Changers series, we spotlight women who have found success in their respective industries—from sports and politics to beauty and fashion. And with all of us spending more time indoors now more than ever, there’s no better time to highlight the inspiring women leading interior design today.
There are countless examples of passionate female designers leaving their mark on what a home (or any space, really) can be. From Athena Calderone and Lily Kwong to Nicole Gibbons and Leanne Ford, these multihyphenate women have extended their creativity into brands, businesses, and our own Instagram feeds. Ahead, 11 female interior designers changing the game (and reminding us that there is no place like home).
Everyone remembers their first time. They compare it to feeling a kid on Christmas morning, recall their phones exploding with more notifications than humanly possible to respond to. Some need to take a step back in order to fully understand the significance of the moment—when Meghan Markle gave their fashion brand her personal stamp of approval.
Influencer marketing may be powerful, but as these brands can attest: not much compares to when the Duchess of Sussex is photographed wearing one of your pieces, triggering the so-called Meghan Markle Effect. It can shift conversations entirely for those already established brands and can throw a little-known, at-home operation onto a globe stage in an instant.
“In terms of growing our business exponentially, Meghan has enabled us to do this in a very tangible, immediate way,” says James Bartle, founder and CEO of Outland Denim. The Australian brand is on a mission to create responsibly-made denim while supporting ethical work conditions, namely in its facility in Cambodia. Markle wore the label repeatedly during her royal tour of Australia in 2018, and its sales skyrocketed, allowing the under-the-radar business to grow. “You cannot put a price on the brand recognition nor the credibility that the Duchess is able to bestow on a small, socially oriented enterprise such as ours.”
Outland’s success story isn’t unique: Many other designers that the Duchess of Sussex has touched since her public persona shifted from actress to royalty, British Vogue guest editor, curator of her own fashion collection, and pal to Beyoncé can attest to her impact. In their own words, the designers ahead explain exactly what happened when Markle wore their creations.
Sandra Oh had a very good night at the 2019 Golden Globes: She kicked off her duties as host with an incredibly heartfelt speech, made some hilarious jokes, and then went on to collect her own trophy for Best Actress in a TV Drama, becoming the first Asian-American woman to win that category in almost 40 years. Throughout all of this, Oh wore a trio of incredible gowns that were quite meaningful themselves.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth Saltzman, Oh’s stylist, explained that they decided to showcase exclusively “strong female designers” through the actress’ wardrobe at the Golden Globes. “I decided to think of things that would make her feel confident and empowered and beautiful,” she said.
The two women who best communicated that, Saltzman added, were Donatella Versace and Stella McCartney. “I don’t know a more fearless, bold person who works harder than Donatella,” she said. “Donatella really gives. She’s super empowering, and super fun, and has been through stuff.” McCartney, meanwhile, helped them create “the most amazing kapow! dress” that “[felt] like something out of the great Hollywood films of yesteryear.”
See all of Oh’s female-designed looks from the 2019 Golden Globes, ahead.
After a few seasons of slogan tees and pins, seeing politically-adjacent messages at a fashion show doesn’t feel abnormal: The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has partnered with organizations like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU to raise awareness for their services , designers have taken their bows wearing shirts with messages of inclusivity, politicians have even made unofficial cameos on the runway… What remains a “surprise,” in a way, is the issue that fashion people deem important or noteworthy enough to make a talking point during Fashion Week. At the Spring 2019 shows in New York, there wasn’t as much of an industry-wide mobilization surrounding a single message, as we’ve seen in the past, but a handful of designers and show-goers did harness their platform to bring attention to the upcoming elections.
The timing of this season’s shows lent themselves to this issue: New York state’s primary elections were set for September 13, the day after the official end of New York Fashion Week. As such, some designers referenced some of these campaigns during their shows. Perhaps the most pointed reference came from Christian Siriano, who kept the focus on the local gubernatorial race, between Cynthia Nixon and incumbent Andrew Cuomo.
PHOTO: Victor VIRGILE
“I went to an event where I had the pleasure of hearing Cynthia speak and she was amazing. It felt very real and every issue she brought up I agreed with,” Siriano tells Glamour. “I decide a few weeks ago to invite her and add some promotion [about her campaign] to our show… I think its important speak up for what you believe in. I believe in a better New York, and I think Cynthia will give us that.”
In the show notes, Siriano thanked Nixon “for all you’re doing for New York.” The designer left informational pamphlets about the Cynthia for NY campaign on each of the 650 seats in the venue. During the show, a model walked down the runway wearing a “Vote for Cynthia” T-shirt tucked into one of Siriano’s signature evening skirts; he took his bow wearing a different version of it, reading “I’m Voting for Cynthia.”
PHOTO: Victor VIRGILE
Oh, and throughout all of this, Nixon was sitting front row, right in between Judith Light and Whoopi Goldberg. “He’s been such a supporter of the campaign, which I’ve been so honored by and so grateful for,” she told E! News of Siriano at the show. “[The T-shirt] was an incredible tribute, but it’s a natural fit because he’s been a designer that has so much been a champion for so long of [the message] that fashion should be for everybody.”
PHOTO: KEVIN TACHMAN
“I think my show is a place to showcase… what issues are important to me and my brand,” Siriano explains. “[It’s] a very large stage where so many people are watching, so it’s a perfect place to help promote something that I think is important.” We have to talk about voting “because we can’t not support the people we believe in because, as we have seen, it can really affect our cities and country in the worst way possible.”
Prabal Gurung is another designer who’s become known for his socially-conscious runway displays: He’s ended his past few shows by running down the runway while wearing a T-shirt printed with some sort of message, from “Resist With <3” (Spring 2018) to “This Is What a Feminist Looks Like (Fall 2017.) That would be no different for Spring 2019—and attendees were clued into what his slogan would be upon arrival.
As each guest took their seat at Gurung’s show, they were greeted by a small card on top of their program that read, “I am a voter.”
PHOTO: Jamie McCarthy
Then, after the last of the models wearing his technicolor spring collection made their way backstage, Gurung emerged, his T-shirt a colorful call-to-action: “Vote.”
PHOTO: Frazer Harrison
The T-shirt is part of a collaboration between luxury retailer Moda Operandi and Rock the Vote, which features pieces from designers including Gurung, Brandon Maxwell, Carolina Herrera, and more. It retails for $100, with all proceeds going to the nonpartisan nonprofit. Gurung would later post an image of himself wearing the shirt to his personal Instagram, with the caption: “Making a #PSA. Do the right thing. #VOTE.”
PHOTO: Christian Vierig
Footwear designer Chloe Gosselin partnered with the group Rise Up and Vote for her Spring 2019 presentation, which was meant to be an event centered around women, community, and change. (This included a soundtrack consisting of speeches by the likes of Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.) One of the models donned a T-shirt that read “I am a voter.”
PHOTO: Madison McGaw/BFA.com
Jeremy Scott, a designer with over 2 million followers on Instagram known to draw a crowd for his namesake label’s New York show (he’s also the creative director of Moschino, which presents its collections in Milan), also made a statement during his customary bow. He encouraged a different civic responsibility, though: calling your senators.
When he stepped out on the runway at the end of his Spring 2019 show, Scott was wearing a T-shirt that read “Tell Your Senator No on Kavanaugh,” referring to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who’s confirmation hearings are ongoing. It also listed a phone number to call: 202-902-7129.
PHOTO: Pietro D’aprano
The following evening, Scott attended Harper’s Bazaar‘s annual Icons party, once again wearing (and purposefully showing off) a T-shirt encouraging civic responsibility. (The style happened to be the same one worn by a model at the Chloe Gosselin presentation.)
Fashion shows—and Fashion Weeks, more broadly—are highly publicized events, with the cumulative followers of designers, brands, celebrities, and other people associated with the shows tuning in to see what’s happening. As of September 10, about halfway through New York Fashion Week, there were over 300,000 posts related to it on social media, WWD reported. There are photographers everywhere, capturing not only what’s on the runway but the environment around it.
Gemma Chan, who plays Astrid in the hit Crazy Rich Asians movie, is having a red-carpet moment right now. It’s perhaps to be expected—Astrid is, after all, arguably Crazy Rich Asians‘ most stylish, couture-obsessed character—but Chan is using her platform in front of the cameras in a uplifting way. She’s focused many of her red-carpet outfits around creations by Asian designers and those of Asian descent. Like when Emma Watson used her Beauty and the Beast press tour to educate followers on sustainable fashion via Instagram, Chan’s tracking each outfit she wears for her own on her ‘gram, giving fans insight on the designer’s heritage while letting them peep the incredible outfits. Click through some of her best looks of the press tour so far.
Shopping for swimwear can be a tough and vulnerable process. As if the inconsistency in sizing across brands and the harsh fluorescent lighting in changing rooms weren’t enough, it can be intimidating—and overwhelming—to contend with all the available choices and take stock of all the new trends coming up on Instagram or on the runway. Asking friends and family for tips can help, but we decided to take it a step further and go straight to the source for the best swimwear shopping tips: the designers behind some of your go-to brands—the ones choosing every stitch, seam, wire, cup, and strap you live in come summertime.
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