The men's business has exploded in the last five years. Roopal Patel More Quotes by Roopal Patel More Quotes From Roopal Patel I went to Bergdorf Goodman as an assistant in the fashion office and that was really my first exposure into the world of retail. Dawn Mello was president at the time and she had just left Gucci where she found Tom Ford. Roopal Patel fashion office president I was pretty much a minimalist. I liked a lot of black at the time, which is very different from my wardrobe now, because I live in color. Roopal Patel black color different I really loved when Prada Sport came into fashion, which kind of created all the nylon which she had for quite some time. You also wanted a Prada bag, you wanted a Prada shoe, not that you don't today, but that craze for Prada accessories was really big. It was a really big deal. Roopal Patel shoes fashion sports I had a very different vibe then, I was very into minimalism. I was kind of obsessed with Helmut Lang and [Martin] Margiela. Roopal Patel obsessed different kind What we considered to be so much part of our everyday fashion vocabulary today, where we see all these designers restarting with these big houses, was just beginning then [in the 90th]. Roopal Patel vocabulary fashion house Calvin Klein and Donna Karan were the big American names at that point in time, Helmut [Lung] was the cool kid on the block and you had Marc Jacobs and John Galliano who starting the revival of the old fashion houses. Roopal Patel block fashion kids Tom Ford just started at Gucci and was getting great notoriety - like Madonna wearing that head-to-toe velvet suit at the MTV awards. I remember it like it was yesterday. Roopal Patel mtv awards yesterday I feel like fashion was much more exclusive. There weren't as many parties. There weren't as many social gatherings. It wasn't required that designers have events to lure customers or editors or any of that - it was about a show. If there was a dinner or a party, people would go out after. New York nightlife was about late nights and dancing. Roopal Patel fashion party new-york There weren't paparazzi standing outside. There weren't all these photographers. People really didn't know what fashion was and what was happening in the tents. Roopal Patel tents fashion people Fashion Week was at Bryant Park and there were a few shows like Marc Jacobs, or when Alexander McQueen came to town, that were offsite, Helmut [Lung] was offsite, but it was very intimate. It wasn't the way it is today where you have a thousand people at the show. You may have had 200 to 250 and it was really the trade and you know fashion greats. Roopal Patel fashion may people At the time it really was the social women, the society ladies. There were the cool girls, like Aerin Lauder - everyone loved to see what Aerin was wearing. Carolyn Bessette was very much in that time period. Calvin [Kleine] was very influential in the '90s. Roopal Patel influential girl social He respected the codes and the heritage of Louis Vuitton, which is very important for a house of this nature, but he infused his own sensibility and his own DNA into what we saw. Roopal Patel lifestyle
