Billy Reid (fashion designer)

This article is about the fashion designer. For articles about other persons named Billy Reid, see Billy Reid (disambiguation).

Billy Reid is an American fashion designer. His clothing is known for its classic styles in high quality fabrics, but with unusual accents, self-described as "low-fi Southern-bred luxury".[1]

Early life and education

Reid grew up in Amite, Louisiana, just south of the Mississippi border. He operated a women’s clothing boutique located in his grandmother’s home. Reid's hobbies included outdoor activities in the surrounding Southeast Louisiana wetlands.[1]

Reid attended Southeastern Louisiana University. Later he attended the Art Institute of Dallas and studied fashion design and merchandising. While still at the Art Institute, he started working for Saks Fifth Avenue. After Saks he worked for 6 years at Reebok International, travelling across the globe for the first collections of Greg Norman. He started his own company in 1995 with clients including Fruit of the Loom, Neiman Marcus, Reebok and Takashimaya.

Brand

Reid's first collection launched in Spring 1998. He received the CFDA Best New Menswear Designer award in 2001, but economics forced him to close his business in Spring 2002. Reid then moved to Florence, Alabama.

Reid's new business model built up a small namesake chain of shops which reflected his "personality and his aesthetic" - loaded with antiques, family heirlooms and reclaimed architectural materials; they "took on a very personal, warm and hospitable environment."[1]

His company headquarters is in downtown Florence, Alabama in a historic bookstore. Downstairs is his flagship shop and upstairs is his design studio. There are also shops in New York City (opened Fall 2008),[1] Highland Park Village in Dallas, New Orleans, Nashville, Charleston, Houston, Chicago and Atlanta.[2] The stores are notable for their atmosphere of faded elegance, for example the New York store has faded chairs and carpets, an antique chandelier, mounted deer head, and antique apothecary cabinets.[3]

The brand is sold in Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, and Bloomingdales in the US, and Takashimaya in Japan. He has designed a line of K-Swiss/Billy Reid sneakers.[4]

Actor Daniel Craig wore Billy Reid in a scene in Skyfall

Actor Daniel Craig wore the Billy Reid Bond peacoat in the 2012 film Skyfall, which exposed the brand to a wider audience. [5] The coat was named after Bond Street, the location of the brand's flagship store in New York City.[5]

Retail locations

Billy Reid monobrand stores are located in:

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Billy Reid on Facebook
  2. ↑ Times Daily Reid wins designer award
  3. ↑ Fashion New York Times 2009/02/19
  4. ↑ K-Swiss Billy Reid Collection
  5. 1 2 JAKE WOOLF, How James Bond's Peacoat Changed Billy Reid's Business, GQ Magazine November 5, 2015
  6. ↑ fashionista.com GQ names Billy Reid Best new menswear designer in America FEB 2010
  7. ↑ Billy Reid wins 2010 CFDA Huffington Post
  8. ↑ Council of Fashion Designers of America

See also

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, April 27, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.