Quick Facts
Biography
Sophie Theallet (Born 1964 in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France) is a French fashion designer whose clients include First Lady Michelle Obama.
Career
At 18, Sophie Theallet moved to Paris to attend the fashion design school, Studio Berçot. She graduated early after winning France's “National Young Design Award” and was hired by Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Theallet then joined Azzedine Alaïa for a decade before moving to New York. She now lives in Brooklyn Heights.
After moving to New York City, Theallet continued to work with Alaïa on a part-time basis, while also freelancing for other fashion labels.
In 2007, she launched her own label, Sophie Theallet. In 2009, she won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award.
Vogue writes about her fashion shows fairly regularly. For example, the Spring 2014 show, which by standing convention was in fall 2013, generated comments from the reviewer that her work "established a tone of ripe sexuality".
In November of 2016 Theallet wrote an open letter explaining that she would not be dressing future First Lady Melania Trump due to what she feels is "racist and xenophobic" rhetoric emerging from the tone of Donald Trump's campaign efforts for the U.S. presidency.