Stacey Bendet (born 1978) is an American fashion designer who is the founder, chief executive officer and creative director of Alice + Olivia, a contemporary clothing company based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. She is the Founder of Creatively,WWD: "Stacey Bendet Launches Creatively, a Networking Platform for Creative Industries"
May 5, 2020 a networking platform for the creative industry, and co-founder of the #ShareTheMicNow movement,Vanity Fair: "White Celebrities Will Hand Off Instagram Accounts to Amplify Black Women’s Voices"
June 9, 2020 which was created in an effort to help amplify African-American women's voices.

Early life and education

Bendet was born in 1978 to Olivia (née Bendet) and Joseph Daniel Wiener. Bendet is of Jewish heritage and had a bat mitzvah celebration. Bendet's father ran a textile import business,Elle: "Alice + Olivia Designer Stacey Bendet Eisner's New Pad – Being a grown-up doesn't mean you have to forsake fun" by Miranda Purves
March 31, 2010 and was "involved in one of the country's leading lace-manufacturing companies" while she herself was interested in fashion and clothing from a young age. Bendet graduated from

Horace Greeley High School Horace Greeley High School is a public, four-year secondary school serving students in grades 9– 12 in Chappaqua, New York, United States. It is part of the Chappaqua Central School District. It is consistently ranked among the top high scho ...

Chappaqua, New York Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro ...

and studied international relations and French at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, graduating in 1999.

Career

In 2002, Bendet founded Alice + Olivia.
How Alice + Olivia Founder Stacey Bendet Created A $150 Million Brand , Retrieved Dec 21, 2021 Bendet's desire to make "a trouser sexy" and "the focus of an outfit" led to her modifying a pair of jeans that were cut slim at the hip to create the illusion of elongated legs and a lean silhouette.Interview Magazine: "Introducing: Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia"
retrieved May 13, 2014 Designer

Lisa Kline Lisa Kline is the owner of a Los Angeles boutique of the same name. Personal life Kline grew up in Encino, California. She always knew she wanted to own her own boutique and worked in retail stores from the age of 15. She attended Syracuse Unive ...

noticed her walking by and ordered 20 sets of the outfit, which provided an opportunity for Bendet to launch a collection based around that concept at the

Russian Tea Room The Russian Tea Room is an Art Deco Russo-Continental restaurant, located at 150 West 57th Street (between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue), between Carnegie Hall Tower and Metropolitan Tower, in the New York City borough of Manhattan ...

. Soon after, the department store

Barneys New York Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys ...

placed an order, and Andrew Rosen, developer of the ''Theory'' fashion line, offered to finance Bendet's new business. The brand has since grown into a full lifestyle collection that features ready-to-wear, gowns, shoes, tech accessories, and handbags. Freestanding boutiques have opened in over 30 major cities around the world, with a current total of 38 stores. In 2020, she founded and launched Creatively, a networking platform for the creative industry. Later that year, she co-founded an Instagram campaign called #ShareTheMicNow in an effort to bring African-American women's voices to the forefronts of predominately white women's Instagram accounts in an "account takeover" format.

Personal life

She married film producer Eric Eisner, the son of former

Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

executive

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...

, on the Caribbean island of

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...

in 2008. The couple have three children: Eloise Breckenridge Eisner, Scarlet Haven Eisner, and Athena Belle Eisner. She splits her time between New York and

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 ...

. Bendet practices Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. Bendet has appeared on the '' Vanity Fair'' Best-Dressed list four years in a row and is in the Best-Dressed Hall of Fame.

References

External links

alice + olivia official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bendet, Stacey Living people American fashion designers American women fashion designers 20th-century American Jews 1978 births Jewish fashion designers Schools of the Sacred Heart alumni Place of birth missing (living people) University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Chappaqua, New York Horace Greeley High School alumni 21st-century American Jews 20th-century American women 21st-century American women