026 Gabriela Hearst - A Woman with a Signature Brand and a Plan

Gabriela Hearst is a self-taught designer, who only launched her signature label three years ago. This year she was nominated for the CFDA womenswear designer of the year award, just opened her first flagship store in New York, debuted a permanent showroom in Pars. She is also currently on track for being profitable by the end of the year.

But Hearst is no overnight success. She has years of experience in the fashion industry. However, it was her conscious decision to shift to only creating clothing using the best materials she could lay her hands on, to focus on versatile timeless garments and to design pieces with multitasking women in mind that made all the difference. In an industry built on the idea of the accumulation of things, Hearst is finding her global success with a less, but best, philosophy.

When we spoke she had just signed her lease for her store and her nomination for her CFDA award was still very fresh in her mind. But even though she had a lot of exciting news about her nascent company, it was when she spoke to me about the core message of her company that I really felt I got a better and deeper understanding of this exceptional business woman.