A Kenneth Cole jacket is ready for all occasions. Be it formal or casual, a jacket by Kenneth Cole New York will fit right in.
About The Label
Kenneth Cole Productions was born in 1982, when Kenneth Cole went broke. The emerging designer had spent all his money making shoes in Europe, but when he came back to his native New York, he had no place to sell them—and no money to open a store. Enlisting the help of a friend with a giant truck, Cole nabbed ... read morepermission to park it in midtown and sell shoes by applying for a film permit; the fictitious film had the audacious title “The Birth of a Shoe Company.” The stunt helped sell 40,000 shoes in two days, and created both a company and a legend. Today, Cole designs men’s and women’s shoes, plus men’s wear, women’s wear and a secondary line of accessories called Kenneth Cole Reaction. The primary label is a visual manual in contemporary urban style: Black jeans, crew-neck sweaters, sexy granite colored dresses and chunky soled shoes are seasonal staples for the line, and even flirty chiffon skirts and more fitted button-up shirts boast a slight gruffness thanks to the use of thicker fabrics and deeper colors than others in their category (like Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren). Kenneth Cole Reaction is a more playful collection that still adheres to the brand’s city-dwelling sensibility. Shoes and bags come in a bigger (and brighter) selection of colors, and the line also includes jewelry and watches with flat steel bands and gleaming glass faces—inspired, in part, by city skyscrapers.
The Look
Casual urban sophisticate who doesn’t mind walking ten blocks to Soho.
The Designer
Born in Brooklyn, New York to Charlie Cole, who owned the El Greco shoe manufacturing company, Kenneth Cole studied law at Emory University in Atlanta before learning the family business and starting his own line in 1982. The designer was one of the first to bring AIDS into American Pop Culture with a series of AIDS awareness ads starting in 1985; a year later, he married Maria Cuomo, the daughter of New York governor Mario. When Cole’s company went public in 1994, it garnered attention from both the worlds of fashion and finance; Forbes magazine dubbed Cole one of America’s best bosses, and his company one of the country’s best small businesses. Today, Cole remains the CEO and creative director of his brand, and is still the head designer for his ready-to-wear collections. A champion of human rights, AIDS awareness and alleviating urban poverty, Kenneth Cole’s empire is currently worth an estimated $600 million.
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