Each day of Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week 2012, the SheKnows Beauty team is bringing you a new designer spotlight of the day… enter Nanette Lepore, the fun, free-spirited designer who brings you a downtown-chic look.
Nanette Lepore
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Lepore always had a knack for fashion sense since she was 9 years old. One of her first designs included dressing her neighbor in a floral bedspread, beaded choker and face paint while having her pose in her front yard holding a handwritten sign that beared her last name, “Lepore.”
Since then, her interest in fashion became a career interest. After Lepore graduated from Youngstown University, she headed off to New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology. She received her degree in design with flying colors and then married painter Robert Savage.
With much ambition to create her designs that would bear her own name, Lepore opened up a shop in the Garment District with a $5,000 loan from her father. After that, her line took off.
Sunny inspiration
Nanette Lepore’s creative juices flowed freely while growing up as her parents, her father a painter and stylish mother, encouraged her entrepreneurial spirit and creativity. While roadtripping on Route 66 during her childhood summers with her bohemian parents, Lepore gained a free-spirited taste for culture and travel.
Currently, Lepore designs in her atelier in New York City with her husband who takes the reins on the business side of the globally-known brand as president. Because Nanette Lepore has grown into an international brand, you can find her designs in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Celeb love
Celebrities love her bold, bright and fashion-forward looks and you can spot them on stylish stars like Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Eva Longoria.
The Nanette Lepore brand also offers women’s apparel, Oonagh — a luxe basics line, footwear and fragrance.
Don’t forget to watch for her brightly colored Resort 2012 fashion collection.
More on New York Fashion Week
Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week 2012 schedule
Designer spotlight: Jenny Packham
Designer spotlight: Tory Burch
Photo credit: WENN
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