Michael Michalsky

Michael Michalsky (born 23 February 1967) is a German fashion designer. He is the founder and head designer of the fashion label Michalsky. He is also the creative director of the luxury handbag manufacturer MCM since 2005. Besides his fashion business, Michalsky runs the agency Michalsky DesignLab, which offers design services. Today, Michalsky is considered one of Germany's most influential designers. His StyleNite at Berlin Fashion Week is followed by the global fashion scene.

Early life and influences

Michalsky was born on 23 February 1967 in Göttingen and grew up in Meddewade near Bad Oldesloe where he graduated from the Theodor Mommsen secondary school in 1987. Until 1992, he studied at the London College of Fashion. After his graduation, Michalsky kept his promise to work in the hospice Lighthouse: "It was shocking, my first experience with death and AIDS. It was there that I realised: fashion, being hip and knowing famous people is completely unimportant if you don't have an emotional base".

Michalsky's main source of inspiration is music. He was heavily influenced by London's youth culture during the 1980s, when the rise of music videos and the success of MTV strengthened the link between music and fashion. Until today, Michalsky admires the 1980s pop icon Madonna: "I am a true fan of Madonna. She has inspired me with her looks and her music for almost all my life."

Besides music, Michalsky is also passionate about photography: "I collect photos of Yva, the famous fashion photographer from Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s who also taught Helmut Newton, of Edmund Kesting, Herbert List and F.C. Gundlach with his fashion portraits of the 1950s. And I am also fascinated by architecture."