A Biography Of Alexander Wang

Born in California in 1984 of Taiwanese descent, Wang moved to New York at the age of 18 to attend the prestigious Parsons School of Design. Famously he only made it to his second year, dropping out to pursue his dream of designing his own line.  Having completed internships at Teen Vogue and Marc Jacobs, Wang decided to set up his own label alongside his manufacturing production trained sister-in-law Aimee.  His business is currently said to be worth around £15 million and is wholly family owned.

The rapidly expanding company has a wide array of celebrity fans and Wang is very popular with the blogging tribe. His brand of casual downtown cool takes inspiration from 1990s minimalism, French nonchalant chic and ‘just got-out-of-bed’ grunge. His designs often have a masculine silhouette but his use of a range of luxurious, tactile fabrics keeps the feminine appeal.

Wang is noted for his associations with glamorous girls such as Erin Wasson, Dree Hemmingway and Alice Dellal all of whom wear hisclothes. Wang is a designer who appreciates the value of celebrity; he has always used the most famous, hip models for his shows.

In 2008 Alexander Wang was awarded the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund of $200,000, previous winners include Proenza Schouler and Phillip Lim. This was followed in 2009 by the Swarovski Womenswear Designer of the Year Award and in 2010 by the Accessory Design and Swiss Textile award.

In November 2012 it was announced that Alexander Wang would replace Nicolas Ghesquière as next creative director of Balenciaga.