Maria Grachvogel (born 11 July 1969) is a British fashion designer. Grachvogel designs under her own label, has a store in London and regularly stages shows at

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London twice a year, in February and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fashion wee ...

. Her clients have included

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, she has received numerous accolades throughout her four-decade-long career, including two Academy Awards, two British A ...

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...

, and

Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the girl group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spice. Wi ...

, who has modelled for her at London Fashion Week.

Early life and career

Maria Grachvogel was born in London to a Polish father and Irish mother. She was a keen designer as a teenager, creating her first collection at the age of 14. On leaving school she initially pursued a career in the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

to raise

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

to start her own business, passing a

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

examination at the age of 17.

Design career

Grachvogel's first fashion business was a partnership with a friend and fellow designer. After the partnership ended, she briefly returned to working in the City, but resumed designing within six months. She founded her own company in January 1991, aged 21, with a collection of nine dresses. She exhibited at

for the first time in 1994, and staged her first catwalk show there in 1995. Grachvogel attracted international attention when Victoria Beckham appeared as a model in her February 2000 catwalk show at London Fashion Week. Beckham appeared first in green

satin A satin weave is a type of fabric weave that produces a characteristically glossy, smooth or lustrous material, typically with a glossy top surface and a dull back. It is one of three fundamental types of textile weaves alongside plain weave ...

hot pants Hotpants or hot pants are extremely short shorts. The term was first used by ''Women's Wear Daily'' in 1970 to describe shorts made in luxury fabrics such as velvet and satin for fashionable wear, rather than their more practical equivalents th ...

, followed by a

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

-styled crimson gown, and reappeared at the end of the show in a long off-the-shoulder red dress. Later that year Grachvogel again attracted publicity when she designed a dress hand-sewn with 2,000 diamonds worth approximately £250,000 for her September show. The dress was a long black silk

evening gown An evening gown, evening dress or gown is a long dress usually worn at formal occasions. The drop ranges from ballerina (mid-calf to just above the ankles), tea (above the ankles), to full-length. Such gowns are typically worn with evening ...

slashed to the thigh, with the diamonds in rows on the

bodice A bodice () is an article of clothing traditionally for women and girls, covering the torso from the neck to the waist. The term typically refers to a specific type of upper garment common in Europe during the 16th to the 18th century, or to the ...

. The diamonds were set in

18-carat The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hard ...

gold and totalled 190 carats in weight. The dress was modelled by

Jodie Kidd Jodie Elizabeth Kidd (born 25 September 1978) is an English fashion model, racing driver, and television personality. Early life Kidd was born in 1978 and is the daughter of the businessman and former showjumper Johnny Kidd. She is the grandda ...

, and formed the finale to the show. Grachvogel launched her store in 2001, based in

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

, London. Her designs include "Magic Pants", trousers without pockets or side seams designed to give the wearer a smooth silhouette. In 2011 the store moved to Culford Gardens, London.

Personal life

Grachvogel married Mike Simcock, an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

, on her 40th birthday in July 2009. She gave birth to a son in March 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grachvogel, Maria 1969 births English fashion designers British women fashion designers Living people Artists from London English people of Irish descent English people of Polish descent