Michael Kors Profiles
The career in order — the 1981 label, Celine in Paris, and Capri Holdings.
Michael David Kors is an American sportswear fashion designer, born in 1959. He is the honorary chairman and chief creative officer for his company, Michael Kors Holdings Limited — renamed Capri Holdings — which sells men's and women's ready-to-wear, accessories, watches, jewelry, footwear and fragrance. This profiles page tells his career in order: the label he launched in 1981, the Paris years at Celine, and the television fame that made him one of the most recognizable designers in America. Of all the pages in this series, this is the one the others depend on.
The designer's official website is linked in the references, together with the biography searches. The collections, fall, spring, fashion week and runway pages in this series file the work itself; this page keeps the chronology of the career behind it straight.
Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not this designer's own garments.
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The Label from 1981 and the Jet-Set Formula
Kors launched his own label in 1981 with a formula that has never fundamentally changed: American sportswear — the trench, the twinset, the tailored trouser, the structured handbag — cut from luxurious fabrics and finished to a glamorous standard. He called the attitude jet-set: clothes for a life imagined between New York, Palm Beach and the Riviera, worn by customers who wanted polish without stiffness. The consistency is the strategy; a Kors customer from any decade recognizes a Kors garment at a glance.
The company grew from that formula into a complete luxury world — men's and women's ready-to-wear, accessories, watches, jewelry, footwear and fragrance — and in time into Michael Kors Holdings Limited, renamed Capri Holdings as the group widened. The collections page in this series files the clothing record season by season; the handbags that anchor the accessories business appear throughout the runway coverage.
Celine, 1997–2003, and Project Runway
In 1997 Kors took on a second job: the first women's ready-to-wear designer for the French house Celine, a role he held until 2003. An American sportswear designer creating ready-to-wear for a Paris house was a striking appointment, and it worked — the same discipline of luxurious, wearable clothes, spoken with a French accent. The Paris years sharpened the New York label rather than distracting from it.
A second public role followed: as a judge on the television series Project Runway, Kors became the rare designer known by voice and verdict to an audience far beyond fashion's own. Read with the collections page, the profile completes its arc: the designer who launched a label in 1981 built it into a global luxury group while keeping its jet-set formula — camel, black, white and navy, immaculately tailored — instantly recognizable. The news page in this series gathers the continuing coverage.
Common Questions
Who is Michael Kors?
Michael David Kors is an American sportswear fashion designer. He is the honorary chairman and chief creative officer for his company, Michael Kors Holdings Limited — renamed Capri Holdings — which sells men's and women's ready-to-wear, accessories, watches, jewelry, footwear and fragrance.
When did Michael Kors start his label?
In 1981. He built the label into a global luxury company on a signature of jet-set American sportswear — sleek tailoring, luxury knitwear and structured handbags in camel, black, white and navy.
What was Michael Kors' role at Celine?
Kors was the first women's ready-to-wear designer for the French house Celine, from 1997 to 2003 — the American sportswear designer appointed to create a ready-to-wear identity for a Paris leather-goods house.