ArtistAmerican
Michael Kors
2 active items
Growing up in Merrick, Long Island, Michael David Kors - born Karl Anderson Jr. on August 9, 1959 - showed an unusually focused sense of style from childhood. At five years old he reportedly redesigned his mother's second wedding dress. By his teens he was selling clothes out of his parents' basement, which he had renamed the Iron Butterfly.
He enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1977 but left after nine months to work at Lothar's boutique near Bergdorf Goodman on 57th Street in Manhattan, where he quickly moved from sales floor to designer and visual display head. In 1981, at 22, he launched his women's label at Bergdorf Goodman. Legend has it he convinced fashion editor Anna Wintour to view the collection laid out on his apartment bed.
In 1997, Kors was named the first women's ready-to-wear designer at Celine, the French luxury house then seeking a new direction. He left in 2003 to focus on his own brand, which was relaunched with backing from investors Lawrence Stroll and Silas Chou. The accessible-luxury positioning - quality materials, recognizable hardware, American optimism rather than European austerity - proved perfectly timed for the mid-2000s market.
Project Runway, which premiered in December 2004, turned Kors into a television personality and household name beyond the fashion world. His frankness and wit on the judging panel made him the show's most memorable voice for the better part of a decade. The exposure amplified demand for the brand at a moment when handbags and watches were becoming the primary growth drivers in fashion.
The CFDA recognized him with Womenswear Designer of the Year (1999), Menswear Designer of the Year (2003), and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 - the youngest person ever to receive that honor. In 2014, Forbes placed his personal fortune above $1 billion. His holding company eventually acquired Jimmy Choo and Versace before renaming itself Capri Holdings in 2019.
At Swedish and Nordic auction houses, Michael Kors items appear mainly as pre-owned accessories - handbags, clutches, and watches. The 21 items catalogued on Auctionist span houses including Bjornssons Auktionskammare and Kaplans Auktioner, with prices typically ranging from a few hundred to around 2,950 SEK for leather goods. The top recorded sale on the platform was a black leather handbag and wallet set. The secondary market reflects the brand's positioning: accessible relative to French luxury houses, but with consistent buyer interest at Scandinavian general auction houses.