Keira Knightly in Mary Katrantzou

One To Watch: Designer Mary Katrantzou, born in Athens, educated in the United States and currently a London resident is just under 30 years old, yet has already earned significant respect in the fashion scene – maybe her mother being an interior designer and her father having textile design background paved the way for her earlier than most.

Making a mark in the tough heeled market, Mary was still in college when she sold some of her print designs to the legendary Bill Blass and eventually her designs in school lead her to be nominated for the Harrods & L’Oreal Professional Award.

Following this success, she was supported by the British Fashion Council and showed her first collection in 2008. Shortly thereafter in 2010 she did a collection for TopShop and won the Swiss Textiles Award, succeeding Alexander Wang who won the previous year.

Mary Katrantzou

Mary’s work is featured in Dazed & Confused, Grazia, Elle and Vogue and more recently has become a favorite of many well known fashionable girls in the London area, but expect to see more of her in the US shortly, if you have not already.

For more information, click here to check out her press book. 

Gaia Repossi for Barney's New York, collection of rings.

After her father named her  artistic director of her family’s renowned jewelry house at the mere age of 23 in 2009, Gaia Repossi has already distinguished herself as an artist to watch.  Now, at 25, she has made the line her own with bold and unique pieces, including the Gaia Repossi Bold Line for Barney’s New York, which boasts beautiful rings and outstanding cuffs found on fashionistas around the world.

Gaia Repossi. Main Photo by Karl Lagerfeld.

At work, she has collaborated with rising talents like Joseph Altuzarra and Alexander Wang, and at play, she is regarded as a style icon whose chic minimalism transmits her quiet confidence.

We recently caught up with Ms. Repossi as she and friend Giovanna Battaglia made the annual pilgrimage to Venice Biennale. Despite her hectic schedule, the young designer was more than happy to talk minimalism, Picasso and convention-defying rings.

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Q: You come from a long line of jewelers. Do you think the craft has evolved since Repossi was founded in 1920?

Gaia Repossi: Jewelry is not evolving enough. We’re too fixated on diamonds and the value they represent. I think boundaries have to be broken. The industry needs new shapes, new obsessive silhouettes that everyone would wear, like tribal silhouettes.

Q: If you could be the official jeweler to one notable person, who would it be?

GR: I would have loved to work for Picasso or Yves Saint Laurent.

Q: What are your favorite pieces to wear?
GR: My all-over the finger rings: from the Berbere collection, the Alexander Wang collection, and the Maure collection. The all-over the finger pieces come from binding two rings so that they run the length of the entire finger. Sometimes I wear my massive cuffs, but never too much at a time. I don’t like mixing.

Q:  You are most always spotted in elegant, minimalist looks. What’s your fashion philosophy?
GR: I think silhouettes should be sharp and simple so the eyes and spirit come out. I like basics and menswear references, and I like to lighten classic looks with unexpected items.

Q: Are there any items you can’t live without?
GR: Men’s shirts and jackets, black cigarette tuxedo pants, simple pumps or flat suede booties.

Q: Which designers are you gravitating to now?
GR: Phoebe Philo’s work for Céline is sharp, different, and unexpected. Alexander Wang channels fierce, androgynous women from another planet. I love Riccardo Tisci’s imaginary religious silhouettes, and Joseph Altuzarra’s feline forms on the catwalk.

Q: Did you always know you would go into the family business?
GR: I always wanted to be an artist. I still paint, but sometimes life has unexpected endings.

- Interviewed by Tory Hoen

From:  Yahoo News: Fashion Wire Daily
Date:   Tuesday June 8, 2010

New York – It may have been the American fashion industry’s big night, but international fashion greats also got their due at the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards last night at Lincoln Center in New York on Monday, June 7.

The late Alexander McQueen was honored with a special tribute, presented by Sarah Jessica Parker, and his Fall 2010 collection was shown for the first time outside the small Paris presentation in March, where it was originally shown shortly after his death on February 11, 2010.

British designer Christopher Bailey of Burberry also received this year’s “International Award,” presented to him by Donna Karan.

A typically star-studded affair – like the Academy Awards and fashion week wrapped into one event – actors including Jessica Biel, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rachel Weisz and CFDA designers themselves, Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, mingled with fashion’s finest, such as CFDA president and designer Diane von Furstenberg, Kenneth Cole, Zac Posen, Betsey Johnson, Rachel Roy, Brian Atwood and Peter Som.

Top honors of the Swarovski-sponsored night went to Marc Jacobs for “Womenswear Designer of the Year,” David Neville and Marcus Wainwright of Rag & Bone for “Menswear Designer of the Year” and the “Accessory Design of the Year” award went to Alexis Bittar.

Swarovski also underwrote the awards for the top emerging designers, who this year included Jason Wu for womenswear, Richard Chai for menswear and Alexander Wang in accessory design. The winners in this category will receive financial support from Swarovski, as well as access to the company’s crystals for use in their own designs.

The Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Michael Kors, presented by Anna Wintour who recalled a humorous anecdote about how Kors once stayed in the ocean in Jamaica for four hours because Ralph Lauren was also on the beach – and Kors didn’t want Lauren to see that he was, in fact, wearing Ralph Lauren swim trunks.

Paper magazine’s founding editor and publisher Kim Hastreiter, a longtime champion of new and undiscovered fashion talents, was given the Eugenia Sheppard Award for excellence in journalism, which actress Brooke Shields introduced, while Caroline Kennedy presented Vogue fashion director Tonne Goodman with the Eleanor Lambert Award. Isabella Rossellini introduced Iman, who received the “Fashion Icon” award.

For the second year in a row, the “Popular Vote” award went to Ralph Lauren. Through a joint Web site sponsored by L’Oreal Paris and WWD.com, anyone could vote for their favorite fashion designer.