B MICHAEL
Fashion designer B Michael was born and raised in Connecticut. He found early design inspirations in his mother’s creativity and grandmother’s keen sense of style and studied millinery at the New York Fashion Institute of Technology. After working under icons such as Oscar de la Renta, he decided to launch his namesake millinery line and in 1999 developed and launched his first couture collection, under the priming of Fashion Industry Icon, Eleanor Lambert.
B Michael’s collections have garnered appreciative fans including socialites and pop-culture personalities and legends such as Cicely Tyson, Valerie Simpson, Beyonce, Nancy Wilson, Susan Fales-Hill, Brandy, Lena Horne, among many others. B Michael also designed Whitney Houston’s costumes for the motion picture, Sparkle, and ballet costumes for the Joffrey Ballet’s World Premier of Alexei Kremnev’s Windy Sands.
In 1998, with the support of Oscar de la Renta, B Michael was granted membership in the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). In 2016 B Michael was awarded the prestigious Design Visionary Award by the Lighthouse Guild. In 2019, B Michael became the first Black American luxury fashion designer to dress and Oscar recipient, longtime friend and muse Cicely Tyson for her history making red-carpet moment. In that same Oscar Year, B Michael also dressed Costume Designer Ruth Carter who won her first Oscar in Costume Design for her work in the film Black Panther. In 2021, B Michael was honored by the National Congress of Black Women, during their thirtyseventh anniversary gala titled, Through It All Still Standing.
In 2022, B Michael was a special guest on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Follow the Thread, a new fashion in film series, The Stars and Their Designers. B Michael has served as a guest lecturer at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, and various colleges and universities around the country. B Michael also serves on the board of Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP). In addition to his work and community/cultural activism, B Michael loves all genres of music, enjoys dancing, and is an avid collector of vintage books, artifacts and photography.
B Michael lives in New York City with his life and business Partner, Mark-Anthony Edwards, and has two daughters, Saferra and Mychal.