100 fashion wardrobes

100 Fashion Wardrobes: The Founders

Credit: Jasmin Hekmat

Jasmin Hekmat, Cult Gaia

Founder and CEO of Cult Gaia Jasmin Larian Hekmat, recently celebrated a decade of business and is renowned for its icon bamboo Ark bag. True its name, the brand has picked up a prominent following of celebrities ranging from Chrissy Teigen to Jennifer Lopez. Starting off with only a collection of bags, it has now transformed into a lifestyle brand, including ready-to-wear, shoes, accessories and swim.

Credit: Umar Kamani

Umar Kamani, PrettyLittleThing

Umar Kamani is the co-founder of women’s clothing brand PrettyLittleThing, part of Boohoo, his father’s multi-billion-dollar fashion company.  PrettyLittleThing started with accessories only, and a limited number of products. Now the label sells apparel, cosmetics, accessories, and footwear aimed at women ages 16-24. Although the empire has come under fire in the media more than a hanful of times, Kamani has made some exceptional business moves at the helm, making Teyana Taylor and Molly-Mae Haque creative directors of the business, and most recently launching a marketplace allowing customers to shift their old and unwanted PrettyLittleThing pieces.

Credit: Jennifer Hyman

Jennifer Hyman, Rent the Runway

Jennifer Hyman is the co-founder, CEO and ultimately the face of Rent the Runway, a platform she co-founded in 2009 with Jennifer Fleiss. She has since raised over $525 million in capital, growing the business to over 11 million members, with a valuation of $1 billion.

Credit: Anya Hindmarch

Anya Hindmarch, Anya Hindmarch

Anya Hindmarch founded her eponymous brand in 1987 and was the first accessories designer to hold an on-schedule London Fashion Week show. Hindmarch has become renowned for her production and creativity, and has several career accomplishments including being an award-winning designer, government advisor, CBE, UK trade ambassador and trustee of the Royal Academy and Design Museum. Today, the Anya Hindmarch brand has grown from its first store on London’s Walton Street to 56 stores globally with flagships in London and Tokyo, including the iconic Anya Hindmarch Village on Pony Street, London.

Credit: Aurora James

Aurora James, Brother Vellies

Aurora James is the founder and creative director of the luxury accessory brand Brother Vellies, which has been worn by President Barack Obama, Beyoncé, Meghan Markle, Rihanna, Zendaya and American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. James also founded The Fifteen Percent Pledge in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, an initiative that compels retail giants to commit 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses. Within its first year, nearly 30 corporations enacted the pledge, effectively diverting over $10 billion in capital to Black entrepreneurs and helping more 400 companies launch their products.

Credit: Sophia Amoruso

Sophia Amoruso, Nasty Gal

The original girl boss, Sophia Amoruso is the businesswoman behind fashion retailer Nasty Gal and Girlboss Media. Nasty Gal Vintage as it was formerly known, began in Amoruso’s bedroom in 2006, aged 22-years-old and came in the form of an eBay store she had set up. By 2008, after officially launching her own website and dropping ‘vintage,’ Nasty Gal’s revenue was at six figures. By 2011, it was eight. At its peak, the fashion retailer was turning over nine figures in annual sales, paired with a workforce of over 200 people. 

Amoruso published her autobiography #GIRLBOSS in 2014, which two years later, was picked up by Netflix who wanted to turn it into a television series titled Girlboss. She took on the role of executive producer and writer for the 13-episode-long series, which was released in 2017. Amoruso has since dedicated her time as an investor in a number of small businesses and has launched Business Class, her 8-week premium digital course for founders teaching them the ins and outs of building a business like a boss.

Credit: Rachel Zoe

Rachel Zoe, Rachel Zoe

Rachel Zoe is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and writer. She has been a key part of the fashion industry for almost two decades. Between 2008 until 2013, Zoe starred in her reality television series The Rachel Zoe Project. She founded her free daily newspaper ‘The Zoe Report’ in 2009, garnering a global community of over 1 million subscribers.

Credit: Ghizlan Guenez

Ghizlan Guenez, The Modist

Ghizlan Guenez is the founder and CEO of The Modist, offering luxury fashion to women who prefer to dress modestly. The platform has been coined ‘the Net-a-Porter of modest clothing attracting investors like Farfetch and carrying tens and tens of international brands from Marni to Emilia Wickstead. In April 2020, Guenez announced her decision to close the company via Instagram, only to return two years later announcing that the company was in fact returning with a new business model and even bigger goals. “Our vision is to create the largest marketplace for modest fashion in the luxury space,” she says.

Credit: Milan Harris

Milan Harris, Milano Di Rouge

Milan Harris is the founder of Philadelphia-based luxe street wear brand Milano di Rouge, earning over $60 million in sales since its inception.