Nanette Lepore

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Nanette Lepore

Nanette Lepore born (1972) in Youngstown, Ohio, also known in French as Nanette Lepoíres and in Japanese as Nanette Lepor is a well known fashion designer. New York Magazine has said that she is "Known for her feminine style and fine detailing, Nanette Lepore makes ultra-chic clothes that are at the same time easy to wear." For this reason she has become a very popular designer starting in the early 2000s.

Biography

Lepore grew up in a typical, United States Midwestern family; her father James, was a professor of art and noted painter. She and her family would travel to California annually and make trips along that state's portion of the famed U.S. Route 66. These trips actually made Lepore feel like a gypsy, a feeling she still has about herself.

At the age of 9, Lepore, an adventurous girl, decided to design a costume for a neighbor. From that point she was taken by the idea of becoming a designer, making it her dream to become one as a grown up.

Trips to California made Lepore enjoy traveling, and she moved from Ohio to New York City, where she began to develop her professional career as a designer. One of Lepore's first dreams in the fashion world was to obtain a degree to attend New York's well-known Fashion Institute of Technology. She graduated from that school with a degree in design.

Lepore gained celebrity in the fashion world after she returned to California, opening a boutique store in Los Angeles and selling her outfits to clients in Europe and Asia. She also began to have her items featured in the famous American store chain, Neiman Marcus. She also gained renown for her flair on the runway and began to attract stars like Aida Turturro, Illeana Douglas, Lorraine Bracco, Steve Buscemi and his filmmaker wife Jo Andres.

Among other things, Lepore is known for her shoe, handbag and dress designs.

When asked about her business she is quoted as saying, "I never had big plans and, when I think back on it, I'm amazed it worked, it lasted, I stuck with it. Most of it is because I'm really, really stubborn. That's how I've lasted, like, 16 years in business. It's been that long since it was a tiny little boutique to a three-person company. It just grew so slowly that it happens and you don't even realize it's happening."

In spring 2007, Nanette Lepore decided to do a collection of shoes with Keds.

She is sold across America in Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Macy's to name a few. She has boutiques in Chicago, Boston on Newbury Street, New York in Soho, two in LA, one in the super trendy shopping center in Caesar's Palace Las Vegas, in Tokyo, and a storefront in London town just off the famed Portabello Road.

She has a daughter, Violet, who is 9 years old.