Carol Lim (born February 20, 1975) is an American fashion designer, retailer and

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

, who works in partnership with

Humberto Leon 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 (brand), Opening Ceremony in 2002 in Lower Manh ...

. She founded the fashion retailer Opening Ceremony in 2002 in Lower Manhattan. Further stores followed in New York City, as well as in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. An Opening Ceremony store opened in 2012 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, coinciding with the Olympics. In 2011, Lim was announced as

of the French

high fashion ''Haute couture'' (; ; French for 'high sewing', 'high dressmaking') is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted high-end fashion design that is constructed by hand from start-to-finish. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Paris became the ...

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 luxury goods conglomerate.

Early life

Carol Lim is the daughter of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

parents. Born and raised in the

suburbs. After graduating with a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

in 1997, Lim worked in the corporate sphere, including a spell with

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

, before moving to New York and becoming a merchandise planner for Bally.

Career

At age 25, Lim went on a trip to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, where she inspired to open a store. 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 o ...

to the United States and to feature then-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. She went to the

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Small Business Development Center at SUNY for assistance in refining their business plan and obtaining a

business loan A business loan is a loan specifically intended for business purposes. As with all loans, it involves the creation of a debt, which will be repaid with added interest. There are a number of different types of business loans, including bank loans, ...

, and each contributed $10,000 of their own money towards Opening Ceremony. Opening Ceremony features a rotating assortment of brands from different designers and is known for its collaborations with brands and personalities such as Pendleton, Levi Strauss & Co., Levi's, The Timberland Company, Timberland, Keds (shoes), Keds, Robert Clergerie, Chloë Sevigny, and Spike Jonze. The stores also feature Opening Ceremony's eponymous brand. In July 2011, Kenzo parent company LVMH announced the appointment of Lim as co-creative director of the brand. Lim debuted her collection in 2012: It was inspired by upstate New York and the painter Ellsworth Kelly. Lim is a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and an advisor at Parsons The New School for Design, Parsons School of Design in Manhattan.

Personal life

Lim is married to United Kingdom, British filmmaker Matthew Killip; the couple have two daughters.

References

External links

Opening Ceremony website

Kenzo website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Carol American fashion designers American company founders American women company founders 1975 births Living people California people in fashion American people of Korean descent LVMH people Artists from Los Angeles University of California, Berkeley alumni 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen American women fashion designers

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links