Derek Lam is an American fashion designer, born in San Francisco, California and is of Chinese American parentage. Lam has a clothing business family background. He did his graduation from Parsons School of Design in 1990 and worked as an assistant for Michael Kors in 90s for four years. Lam then moved to Hong Kong to work for a larger retail brand. Derek returned to New York, following his Hong Kong experience, and was appointed vice President of Design with Kors line.
In 2003, he launched his own label and debuted at the New York Fashion Week in September 2003, for Spring/Summer 2004 collections. In 2005, he won the CFDA Perry Ellis Swarovski Award for new designers.
The following year, he was appointed as creative director of Italian luxury house Tod’s, responsible for overseeing its RTW line in addition to continuing to design a collection of bags and shoes. In 2007, he took home another CFDA award, and this time for Accessory Designer of the Year.
