Marie_ClaireAustralia_ February_2017

Lauren Hutton

Jackie

Onassis

Ali MacGraw

HIS

“SPORTY

LIONESSES”

marieclaire.com.au 77

GORUNWAY/SNAPPER MEDIA; AUSTRALSCOPE; GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF MICHAEL KORS

JF: How old were you?

MK: Oh young. Eleven,

probably. I thought there’s

no dry-cleaner, no French

laundry [a laundry that

does delicates like linen and lace]

where you can have your shirts done

nicely. So I decided to start one with

this other boy. We’d get the shirts

almost dry but still damp, then fold

them. Then we took two planks of

wood and smashed them together to

make a press, so it looked like it came

from a French laundry. We did hand-

done French laundry shirts for anyone

who wanted the service and I made a

nice piece of money over the summer.

JF: Wow. Talk about finding a gap in the

market ... Now, in the ’90s you were part

of the wave of Americans who landed

jobs at French fashion houses. As well

as doing your own line

back home, you went

to work for Céline

doing ready-to-wear

Clockwise from right: launching the

autumn/winter 1990/91 collection with

Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista;

he has just opened a new flagship store

in Singapore, the brand’s largest

in Southeast Asia; with Kendall Jenner

and Joan Smalls at New York Fashion

Week in September; with Jennifer Lopez

in 2013. Below: a selection from his

spring/summer 2017 collection.

Right: a love for fashion, and

a talent for it, started at a very

young age. Far right: Michael

grew up surrounded by very

opinonated women such as

his mother, an ex-model.

learnt about indulgence and how to

temper it. I certainly learnt about the

power of accessories. For the first time,

I was dealing with a truly global brand

where accessories were the only thing

that cut through climate, nationality

and age. So I saw how potent they could

be. Prior to that, my idea of global

was Toronto and London. I wasn’t

thinking about Australia or Singapore

or anywhere else, so it opened my eyes.

ALL AMERICAN

JF: Tell me about some of the style

icons who have inspired you over the

years; the women you call “sporty

lionesses”. Who are they?

MK: [Former model] Lauren Hutton,

certainly, [actor] Ali MacGraw – always

a little bit of both of them. There’s

always going to be some Jackie

[Onassis]. I loved me some Jackie at

every point in her life.

JF: You’ve got a wonderful story about

Jackie from when you were young.

MK: Oh, I almost fainted! She came into

a high-end shop I was working at when

I was 18. As soon as she walked into

and completely revived it.

What were the big lessons

you learnt there?

MK: Well, as a New Yorker, I

think New Yorkers can be

too practical, very pragmatic about

everything. I got to Paris and suddenly

looked around – maybe my fantasy

was that French women would be

powdered, perfumed, dressed up, I

don’t know, with scarves. Once I was

there, I realised that most of the women

were dressed in a very relaxed way, very

laid-back, but at the same time they

appreciated their indulgence in life, in

fashion. They would buy a white winter

coat and not think it was impractical.

They’d fall in love with the extravagance

of it. Whereas women in New York

would say, “Oh, no, I can’t.” So I think I