House of Z - Zac Posen

I recently watched the Zac Posen documentary on Netflix and as someone who has never really been up to date with Posen I was extremely fascinated by his rise (and fall) of fame. Zac Posen is a 37 year old American fashion designer who has been interested in fashion and design from an early age. When he was younger he collected fabrics and began to experiment with pattern making, this developed into making dresses for his friends, one which Gianni Versace spotted and loved. This sort of ‘luck’ seemed to come easy to Zac as a few years later Naomi Campbell noticed him and his designs and the two of them became friends. His designs were then getting photographed for the New York Times, he was getting press but not enough business as he was only making one off pieces for friends and private clients.

This amount of press and interest inspired him to design his first, official collection with the help of his sister and Mother. It was presented in 2001. Shortly after, his career blew up. Everyone loved him, he was labelled an ‘eccentric showman’. As the years went by and he sold more and more pieces, his life became a performance. He became unrecognisable to the people who knew him and his family decided to part ways from the Zac Posen label. The expectation for him to create exceptional garments was high and he struggled, losing his creative voice. He ended up sabotaging his own career by trying too hard to be creative.

I really enjoyed the documentary as I got an inside to the industry and it closely followed Posen’s career and life. I think that he has faced such an intense journey and it really was fascinating watching how he got to the top by being himself but began to fail when he tried to hard to continue being different. I really respect him, his career and his family support as they basically ran the business from behind. His story is definitely one to learn from so I massively recommend it if you are a fashion lover!

Hollie Rose x