One half of fashion powerhouse Marchesa, Keren Craig may get less attention than her co-designer Georgina Chapman, who’s married to movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, but she’s no less intriguing. In honor of her birthday today, here is a look at 10 things you probably didn’t know about the eveningwear maven.
- Craig met Chapman in a life drawing class when they were both 17-year-old students at London’s Chelsea College of Art and Design. Both women count Madame Grès, Madeleine Vionnet, Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen as influences.
- Craig worked as a textile designer for three years before starting Marchesa.
- Marchesa is named after Marchesa Luisa Casati, “a belle époque aristocrat renowned for her flamboyant tastes.”
- When Craig began Marchesa with Chapman, they were called out for having “nothing but a lot of money” behind them; namely high-powered investors like Giuseppe Cipriani and Steven C. Witkoff, partners in New York City’s Witkoff Group real estate company, and Weinstein. Many critics said that actresses chose Marchesa red carpet gowns to win Weinstein‘s favor. In time, their work spoke for itself.
- Craig is a mother of two, and strives to find a balance between motherhood and fashion. “I suppose I approach it in the same way most working mothers do, with a lot of careful coordination and scheduling! I’m also fortunate to be able to have my daughters visit me at work. They often come to the office to spend time with me. It’s always lovely when Georgina’s children visit at the same time. My older daughter, Delilah loves spending time at the office with Georgina’s daughter, India,” she told Miami.com.
- She gave birth and attended the Marchesa Fashion Week presentation in the same week. “After all the work we put into the collection, I couldn’t not go! But I was very lucky to be able to do that, and after the show I went home and collapsed,” Craig told Cricket’s Circle.
- Craig has said that Crocs are her fashion pet peeve: “There is no excuse for an adult to ever wear Crocs. It’s fine and easy for the kids, but never ever for grown-ups.”
- She recently took a trip to Dubai, UAE and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and documented her journey for Harper’s Bazaar.
- Craig has the same muse, Marchesa Luisa Casati, for both her Marchesa line as well as the diffusion line Marchesa Voyage. “We always envision and channel her in different places… It’s about her in her palazzo going on an adventure and for the Marchesa line, it’s about being more dressed up going to a fabulous party,” Craig explained to Fashionista.
- The first celebrity Craig dressed was Renée Zellweger. “It was for Bridget Jones’s Diary, the second one that they had done and it was the premiere in London in 2005. And we made her three dresses because we were very unknown. Obviously it was a bit of risk for her. We will always be grateful for that.”
