May 14 / 18

Hello and good afternoon…Monday is here and that means it’s a new week. This week will be plenty busy, plenty busy. First up, designer Zac Posen is this month’s Shadow Spotlight.

This name should be familiar. Posen has been around for a decade and continues to work his craft through sheer determination. I remember when he first stepped into the fashion spotlight. From Noami Campbell, Claire Danes, Natalie Portman, and many more, who wore his creations, Posen has created quite a portfolio.

You could say that designing clothes was in his DNA. He interned with Nicole Miller while he was a sophomore, at 16 he enrolled in a pre-college program at Parsons The New School of Design. After graduating from Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, Posen was mentored by curator Richard Martin at The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for three years. By 18, he was accepted into  London’s Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London for their womenswear degree program. By 2000, Zac’s work caught the attention of fashion insiders when he created a dress for Naomi Campbell. The rest is fashion history. Here is Zac talking about his documentary film, “House of Z“.

Here is the trailer for House of Z…

You can now see it on Netflix. I loved it. So much so that I’ve watched it twice. I might just watch it again! The film not only shows how he rose and fell but throughout the process, Zac has maintained his commitment to his work. He didn’t quite fall, but just got caught up in the overwhelming pressures of what a designer goes through. Zac got back and brushed himself up. He continues to make great and incredible designs. Doesn’t matter what career you have, but one thing I learned from this is that no matter where we go, we all stumble, but we get up and keep going no matter what life throws at us.

Again check the documentary film on Netflix.

Image source: College Fashion