Humberto Leon (born June 7, 1975) is an American fashion designer, retailer and creative director, working in partnership with Carol Lim. Leon and Lim founded the fashion retailer

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

in 2002 in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. Further stores followed in New York City, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. An Opening Ceremony store opened in 2012 in London, coinciding with the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. In 2011, Lim and Leon were announced as creative directors of the French high fashion brand

Kenzo is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kenzō can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *賢三, "wise, three" *健三, "healthy, three" *謙三, "humble, three" *健想, "healthy, concept" *建造, "bu ...

, which was founded in 1970 and is part of the

LVMH LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (), commonly known as LVMH, is a French holding multinational corporation and conglomerate specializing in luxury goods, headquartered in Paris. The company was formed in 1987 through the merger of fashion house ...

luxury goods In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...

conglomerate until their departure in July 2019.

Early life

Born to a Peruvian father and Chinese seamstress mother, Leon grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles as the youngest in a tight-knit family.

Early career

After completing graduation, Leon worked in the corporate sector for a decade, serving as design director at American clothing retailer Gap. Consequently, he worked at

Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories, ...

, during the start of its renaissance under the administration of

Rose Marie Bravo Rose Marie Bravo (born Rose Marie La Pila January 13, 1951 in the Bronx, New York) is an American businesswoman. During her career, she has occupied leadership positions in several major fashion businesses and is now vice chairman at Burberry, of ...

Career

In early 2001, at age 25, Lim and Leon went on a two-week trip to Hong Kong. There, they were inspired to open a store in the United States upon their return. Its concept was to bring brands such as

Havaianas Havaianas (stylized as havaianas) is a Brazilian brand of flip-flop sandals created and patented in 1962. It is currently owned by Brazilian manufacturing company Alpargatas S.A. Inspired by Japanese zori sandals, Robert Fraser became the first t ...

and

Topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS (r ...

to the United States and to feature emerging American fashion brands such as

Proenza Schouler Proenza Schouler is a womenswear and accessories brand founded in 2002 by designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez. Based in New York City, Proenza Schouler is derived from maiden names of the two designers' mothers: Proenza is the maiden ...

, Alexander Wang, and

Rodarte Rodarte () is an American brand of clothing and accessories founded and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, USA by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Rodarte has received a number of fashion industry awards since the line's inception in 2005 ...

. After considering various names (including Airport and Terminal), the two founders finally settled upon Opening Ceremony. Leon and Lim went to the New York State Small Business Development Center at SUNY for assistance in refining their business plan and obtaining a business loan, and each contributed $10,000 of their own money towards Opening Ceremony. In July 2011, Kenzo parent company LVMH announced the appointment of Humberto Leon as co-co-creative director of the brand. Leon and Lim's debut collection was in 2012. The first collection was inspired by upstate New York and the painter

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...

. Lim and Leon are credited with reinventing the label—which had been in steady decline since

Kenzo Takada is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kenzō can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *賢三, "wise, three" *健三, "healthy, three" *謙三, "humble, three" *健想, "healthy, concept" *建造, "bu ...

's departure in 1999—by injecting a youthful exuberance and sensibility into its clothing. Their modern approach to design and communications has paved the way for the brand's revival in recent years. Leon was a member of the

Council of Fashion Designers of America The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessory des ...

and an advisor to

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

. Leon and Lim departed from their role at Kenzo in June 2019 to focus on Opening Ceremony .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leon, Humberto American fashion designers American company founders 1975 births Living people California people in fashion LGBT fashion designers American LGBT businesspeople American fashion designers of Chinese descent American people of Peruvian descent Artists from Los Angeles LGBT people from California LVMH people University of California, Berkeley alumni 21st-century American businesspeople Creative directors

Early life

Early career

Career

See also

References