Henry N. Jackson, International Couture Designer

Henry N. Jackson

More American fashion designers are realizing that it’s good business sense to make clothes for women whose sizes are in the mid-teens and higher - the so-called “plus” category. However, few of these designers serve up edgy looks that reflect expertise in dressing larger, curvier women.

They could take some lessons from Henry N. Jackson, a New York-based international couturier who once designed for Valentino and Oscar de la Renta. In April, he unveiled “Real Woman Bodies,” a line of 24 looks for women whose genetic sizes range from 12 to 20. (They’re also creatively sub-categorized according to body shape.) The fall-winter 2009-10 dresses and other pieces aren’t garments created on a size 2 fit model and then expanded in scale for the big girls, the strategy of some designers.

“This statement-making collection will make you re-think what fashion means for curvy women,” says Jackson, whose label is Henry Jackson Couture. “Our mission will be to maintain a consistently high standard of workmanship and to apply a modern fashion sensibility, expressing the diversity of our customers and accentuating the beauty of their bodies’ curves. Think Sophia Loren instead of Kate Moss and you will understand it.”

Looks from "Real Woman Bodies" debut collection

Jackson employed techniques such as intricate cutting and goddess draping to enhance rather than hide the larger woman’s figure. Signature colors are shades of gray and tropical brights in imported silks, Italian stretch wools and other fabrics. “Sub themes are 1930’s looks updated for modern function and fit,” he adds.

The idea for the collection began with a seed planted in childhood “when I sketched fashion designs at age 12 and showed them to my mother, who was a size 12 on top and a 14 on the bottom,” he recalled. “She commented that she loved the designs, but she said, ‘What about me and my friends? Why don’t you design some things for us?’ I dropped the ball until 2007 in Paris, and it hit me like an epiphany after seeing the revolt in Spain against ultra-thin models on the runway.”

The Boston native, who began sketching at 5 and sewing at 13, has won several design awards, including the “Rising Star” award from the International Press Association. Just after finishing high school in the latter 1970s, he twice won the “America’s Next Great Designer Award” from the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. In 1980, People magazine referred to him as “Seventh Avenue’s latest wunderkind.”

After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1979 - he also studied in Harvard’s pre-law and business schools - he began designing for de la Renta. But it wasn’t long before he was hired away to Rome to design for the couture clients of another global fashion luminary, Valentino. Henry had just turned 18.

Looks from "Real Woman Bodies" debut collection

At the age of 21, the rising star decided to leave Valentino. “I knew that if I stayed there,” he said later, “I would be designing in a couture vacuum, not for most women.” He returned to New York to work for himself, armed with those two high-end design stints and apprenticeships with Perry Ellis, Charles Suppon and Chester Weinberg. He also had the ear of his mentor, Bill Blass.

Jackson later designed for or managed design teams for Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Bally of Switzerland menswear and womenswear. He also consulted internationally with fashion houses on matters ranging from design to business operations and spent time as an executive in young men’s sportswear design for Converse, Legends and Heroes and Boston-based Stall and Dean.

Since 1980, he’s designed independently. That same year, Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley brought Johnson Publishing heiress Linda Johnson Rice to Jackson’s showroom as she procured clothing for the company’s annual Ebony Fashion Fair. Since then, his designs have been part of the traveling fashion show and charity event.

Jackson’s bold and elegant designs have been sold in specialty and high-end department stores in America, the United Kingdom, France and Japan. He has designed personally for such women as Oprah Winfrey, Tovah Feldshuh, Whoopi Goldberg, Julie Taymore, Cicely Tyson, Eunice Johnson, Halle Berry and Janet Jackson. His designs are available in Paris, at select U.S. retailers and directly from his atelier. Prices range from skirts and pants starting at $120 and ranging up to $850 to bridal looks in the $4,000-$10,000 range.

Many would agree with Jackson’s assessment of the current state of American fashion as “pretty dismal and cookie-cutter. I can’t really say there are new geniuses coming from the American fashion industry, since the influence is not on talent but on hype alone,” he said. “And it is further diluted by the constant influx of celebrity-based lines who do not have any sense of style or background designing fashion, but are in it to make more money as the incentive alone.”

You can learn more about the designer and view some of his looks at www.henrynjackson.com.