Jonathan Saunders

get alerts about this designer get alerts about this designer

With his prodigious talent for print design, Scotsman Jonathan Saunders has distinguished himself as one of fashion's rising stars. In 2002, he exploded onto the international scene when his graduate show at Central Saint Martins, a series of brightly printed chiffon caftans, became an industry-wide sensation. Within 48 hours, Alexander McQueen commissioned him to produce the much-acclaimed bird-of-paradise prints for his 2003 collection. A few months later, British Vogue featured a Jonathan Saunders design on the cover. And just like that, his label was on its way.

Chloé and Pucci came calling, enlisting him as a consultant. Christian Lacroix (Pucci's creative director at the time) even tapped him to design new prints that were not based on Emilio Pucci's archives, a first for the company.

What separates Saunders' prints is his labor-intensive design process, which can take months of painstaking work. He uses traditional silk-screening techniques, drawing inspiration from sources as diverse as Rudi Gernreich and Japanese manga cartoons, but uniquely designs each print to suit an individual garment rather than a range of looks across an entire collection. In recent collections, he has focused more on structure and tailoring, scaling back on his use of prints. His Fall 2007 collection, with its series of color-blocked dresses, received rave reviews.

In 2006, he was named Scottish Fashion Designer of the Year, and two years later, he debuted his collection during New York fashion week after five years on the London runways. In addition to an ongoing collaboration with London-based retailer Topshop, Saunders presented a capsule collection for Target in fall 2008 and stepped into his new role as creative director of Italian brand Pollini.

ALL ON STYLE.COM
ARTICLES
VIDEO

FASHION SHOWS (15)

Spring 2010 Ready-to-Wear

reviews and complete collections

September 22, 2009 12:00AM

  1. All Seasons

  2. Ready-to-wear

  3. Resort

RELATED ARTICLES (4)

more related articles ›

Style.com

Style File Blog

november 08, 2009

Social intelligence

From Rags To Riches

05:11 PM
They may have earned their New York cred—and become, in the process, Yanks fans to...

Trend tracking

Yea, Nay, Or Eh: Katy Perry At The 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards

04:11 PM

Dept. of culture

Prada Enters The Book Business

03:11 PM

more from the style file blog ›