He made history as an American designer creating sportswear for a renowned French line and he snagged the Womenswear Designer of the Year award at the CFDA awards last June, just a year and a half after his contract with the company was extended and he was named creative director. But he hasn’t been affected by his success. Frequently referred to as a client’s confidante and friend, designer as pal, it’s not unusual for Kors to join a customer in the fitting room and personally pin her hem. His half Scandinavian, half Jewish background has won him appeal across Long Island and Manhattan’s Upper East Side and now, with his new gig designing the Paris-based Celine line, across the Atlantic. Here, Michael Kors talks about Celine’s brand new Bal Harbour boutique, fabulous fabrics, living on a plane and designer’s block…

NEW YORK, Dec 19, 1999/ FW/ --- It was a hectic day at the fashion magazine where I was working in 1988 when the Michael Kors sample sale was announced.

As assistants just out of college, my colleagues and I watched as the more senior staff took off on longer lunch breaks to attend.

Our editors had already decided for us that there were much more important things to be done than skip off on a shopping spree.

But there was no way we would be missing out on these fashion finds, created by Kors himself—then a rising star but always a mastermind of fashion.

Thankfully, we were living in the notoriously frivolous eighties and we sent a messenger to pick up solid purple and orange tube skirts from the sale.

You could scrunch them up high on your thigh (Isaia-style) or pull them down to just above your knees for two completely different looks. How cool we would look in the company cafeteria the next morning when everyone else strutted in their Kors creations.

This was just the start of my personal Kors collection and it was with this image in mind, that I set out to meet the designer who had played such an integral role in my introduction to fashion.

His mom may be responsible for his enterprising side, driving him around town to audition for TV commercials in pursuit of a career in show business. Michael landed a spot in a Lucky Charms commercial where he showed off his blond hair and toothy smile and uttered one word, "Marshmallows," then pushed Charmin paper towels and freeze-dried apple chips.

But his real passion was shopping with her at Bergdorf’s and specialty boutiques in Garden City and Manhasset where he was is essence preparing for a fashion career. He studied the New York Times fashion sketches at the age of five and later opened his own boutique—called the Iron Butterfly--in the basement of his Merrick, Long Island home where he sold whipstitched leather vests, batik T-shirts and copper bracelets.

After high school, Kors became a salesperson at Lothar’s, once a Manhattan hot spot on West 57th Street, where women like Cher, Diana Ross and Barbra Streisand came to buy casual clothes like t-shirts and jeans.

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