[Artwork: designslinger]

Isaac Mizrahi
Born in Brooklyn, New York Isaac Mizrahi’s passion for design and performance began at early age. As the son of a children’s clothing manufacturer and a fashion-obsessed mom, Isaac was always encouraged to express his artistic flair.

Isaac is the Creative Director for the Liz Claiborne brand, where he oversees design and marketing for the women’s apparel and accessories line. As a leader in the design business for almost twenty years, Mizrahi has been awarded four CFDA awards, including a special award in 1996 for the groundbreaking documentary “UNZIPPED.” Isaac’s women’s collection is available both domestically and internationally and can seen in fashion magazines around the globe. His menswear collection will be expanding its distribution in fall 2008. In 2003, Isaac revolutionized the industry by teaming with Target to launch a collection of chic and stylish clothing and accessories for women. In addition, he oversees various licenses including shoes and home furnishing fabrics.
www.isaacmizrahiny.com


Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in 1936 and was considered one of the greatest figures in fashion in the 20th century. He died on June 1, 2008 from the effects of brain cancer, at his residence in Paris.

Saint Laurent left home at the age of 17 to work for the French designer Christian Dior. Following Dior's death in 1957, Yves, at the age of 21, was put in charge of the effort of saving the Dior house from financial ruin. In 1961, in the wake of a nervous breakdown, Saint Laurent was released from Dior and he and his lover, Pierre Berge, started their own fashion house with funding from Atlanta millionaire J. Mack Robinson. Throughout the years, the groundbreaking designs of the Couture house created innovative pieces
of clothing.

Yves Saint Laurent was the first Couture house to launch, in 1966, the modern concept of luxury
women’s prêt-à-porter, in a collection called ‘Rive Gauche’. It was followed in 1969 by a ‘Rive Gauche
men’s ready-to-wear line. The Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche boutiques were soon opened throughout
the world, allowing fashion-conscious working individuals to wear the Yves Saint Laurent designs.
This represented the first step in making luxury labels accessible to a wider public.

Today Yves Saint Laurent’s collections include women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags,
small leather goods, jewelery, scarves, ties and eyewear.
www.ysl.com


Tom Ford
Ford was born August 27, 1961 in Austin, Texas. At age 17, when he moved to New York City to study art history at New York University. Ford dropped out of N.Y.U. after only a year, preferring to concentrate on acting in television commercials; at one time, he was in twelve national advertising campaigns simultaneously. Ford then began studying interior architecture at New York City’s Parsons School of Design.

Instead of interior design Ford entered the fashion world and joined Gucci in 1991. In 1994, Ford was promoted to creative director. In his first year at the helm, he was credited with putting the glamor back into fashion introducing Halston-style velvet hipsters, skinny satin shirts and car-finish metallic patent boots. By 1999, the house, which had been almost bankrupt when Ford joined, was valued at about $4.3 billion.

In April 2004, Ford parted company with the Gucci group and opened the fashion house, Tom Ford. The Tom Ford line now covers Menswear, Beauty, Eyewear, and both Men and Women's Accessories. In 2006, he also established a fragrance line called Tom Ford Beauty.

Ford and his partner, journalist Richard Buckley, have been together for over 20 years.
www.tomford.com


Todd Oldham
Jacky Todd Oldham was born in 1961 in Nueces County, Texas. Originally a New York fashion designer, and the host of "Todd Time" on MTV's House of Style, Oldham's career has evolved to include all areas of design, from interior design, film and photography, to furniture, graphic art, and a collection of floral designs for FTD.com. Oldham is the author of Hand Made Modern, and has hosted HGTV's Hand Made Modern series of specials. In 2002 and 2003, Oldham designed his own line of dorm room furnishings for Target. He is a host of Top Design on Bravo.
www.toddoldham.com


Jonathan Adler
Born in farm town in New Jersey in 1966. Tries pottery at summer camp while wearing a Rush concert tee. Spends entire adolescence in basement of family’s modern house throwing pots. Makes quilted line of pottery inspired by Chanel. Evil professor advises him to bag pottery and try a career in law. 1990 - Moves to New York and starts working at a talent agency. 1994 - Shows pots to Barney’s and gets an order. Realizes he has to make the pots. Orders pour in. 1998 - Opens a store in Soho. Adopts (with his partner Simon Doonan) a Norwich terrier named Liberace who is the light of their lives. Opens store in Los Angeles. Launches a glamorous new furniture collection and takes on interior design projects. Branches out into new categories - bedding, towels, stationery and designs The Parker Palm Springs hotel. Opens stores in Miami, Chicago, Madison Avenue and San Francisco, expands furniture line with even more glamorous upholstered groups and casegoods. Writes first design book!  2007 - Reality TV! Joins the Bravo family as lead judge on Top Design.
www.jonathanadler.com


Justin Ryan
Designers Justin Ryan along with Colin McAllister are the faces of Five and can currently be seen in the second series of How Not To Decorate. Earlier this year they presented 5’s reality show The Farm and have also presented The 20 Quickest Ways to Make Money on Your Property; The Twenty Quickest Ways to Lose Money on Your Property. Justin and Colin were also the presenters of BBC2's hugely successful series, Million Pound Property Experiment, which saw them buy, renovate and sell seven properties across Britain, ranging from £100,000 to £1.25 million. They also presented Trading Up, BBC1's popular design show relating to selling property and Trading Up In The Sun, an overseas spin-off which helps people buy homes in France, Spain and Cyprus.

As well as being co-hosts, McAllister and Ryan have also been life partners off-screen for twenty-two years.On February 15, 2008, they were married in London in a private ceremony followed by a Caribbean honeymoon.
www.hgtv.ca


Thom Felicia
Thom Felicia was born in 1969 and was the interior design expert on the television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Filicia lives in New York, with his partner Greg Calejo. In 2007, Filicia told New York Magazine the couple planned to have a baby using a female friend as a surrogate.

He opened his interior design company, Thom Filicia Inc., in 1998. Filicia gained great exposure when he became the interior design expert on the TV reality show Queer Eye in 2003. Filicia hosts the Style Network home makeover show Dress My Nest, which premiered March 28, 2007 and is currently airing its third season. He is also working on his own furniture and home collections, and has a how-to book on interiors, titled "Thom Filicia Style," due out on 28 October 2008.
www.thomfelicia.com


Carson Kressley
Carson Lee Kressley was born in 1969 in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania and was the fashion expert on the  television program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He began as an independent stylist, then worked for Ralph Lauren from 1994 until 2002, working in several areas including menswear and corporate advertising. His leap into television took place in 2003 when he gained great exposure as the "fashion savant" on Queer Eye when the show debuted on Bravo.

In November 2006, Kressley debuted "Perfect", his own clothing for men and women, on QVC. In February 2007, he was announced as the host of new Lifetime makeover show, How to Look Good Naked.
www.carsonkressley.com


Kyan Douglas
Hugh Edward Douglas, Jr. was born in Miami and raised in Tampa and Tallahassee, Florida. He was interested in grooming and wellbeing from a young age, being fascinated with his mother's beauty products and making his own in the blender.

After graduating from college he moved to New York to work for beauty company Aveda. After a time working on the shop floor, selling beauty products, Kyan enrolled in the NY Aveda Institute, gaining a certificate in cosmetology. Kyan started working as a colorist at the the upscale Arrojo hair salon in Soho, and also worked as a hair stylist on some TV shows. In 2002 a client at Arrojo told Kyan about a new makeover show a friend was casting. He sent in a letter and photo, and after three auditions was cast as the 'Grooming Guru' on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
www.tv.com