14 Emerging Fashion Designers in 2014

If you don’t recognize this designer’s name, you probably recognize his muse, patron, and walking billboard, Rihanna. Selman found his fashion soul mate in Rihanna, and now creates most of her tour and music video outfits. Expect riffs on the pop star’s off-duty staples like crop tops and printed maxi dresses—plus a Cara Delevingne sighting.

Milan designer Fausto Puglisi’s label combines Balmain’s opulence with Versace’s in-your-face appeal in a rock and roll sort of way. His colour-drenched, slightly off-killer line is quickly gaining attention.

Chinese-born designer Huishan Zhang has been the recipient of a slew of awards for his haute-meets-hip cocktail dresses. His sleek separates and night time attire are elegant if you’re looking to add a little spice to your party wardrobe. 

While plenty of ambitious kids realize they want to get into fashion at an early age, few can say they were working by the time they were 14. Jonathan Simkhai had just entered high school when a shop owner in his hometown of Scarsdale, a suburb of New York City, offered him a job after seeing him pick out clothes for his friends.

With a technical, architectural approach to clothing, Maison Rabih Kayrouz’s collections are minimalistic in a paper-doll sort of way. The clothes itself are deceivingly simple, but they’re smart and strategic in a way that flatters a woman’s silhouette without resorting the obvious. 

One of the brightest talents out of Nigeria, Maki Oh is a whimsical, inventive designer with a childlike view of what a woman wants to wear – and that’s a good thing. Lots of tulle, fringe, prints, and baubles adorn her fantastical creations. 

At 21 years old, Mathieu Mirano is one of the youngest new designers in the game. The one-time Parsons student jumpstarted his career with a look book of his very first collection — consisting of just nine pieces — that he shot in his apartment. 

Moka London’s forte is really its outerwear, creating beautifully sleek, slick pieces that will make you want to bundle up. Moka separates also does a fantastic print.

With inventiveness for material technology that goes way beyond your “futuristic neoprene,” Pedro Lourenço melds tulles, lames, satins, and plastics to traditional silhouettes for a collection that is very futuristic. 

Cool in a tomboy way that you don’t typically find in Paris, Piece d’Anarchive mixes hip-hop, punk, and high fashion in a he-and-she collection that makes us wish we had a boyfriend who was the same size as us.

Having worked with Marc Jacobs and Vena Cava, Skotison’s vibe feels much more sophisticated than its one-year run would imply. With special-feeling prints that have viral potential, Skotison is one new label you should expect to see big things from in the near future.

One of the biggest names to come out of Milan, blockbuster talent Stella Jean uses textiles, aesthetic designs, stemming from the designer’s Haitian roots to create a collection that’s beautifully layered, darkly ladylike, and totally interesting. 

Is it presumptuous of us to call Valentine Gautier the next Isabel Marant? She may not be reinventing the wheel with her designs, but the Gauthier collection is cool and irreverent in that Parisian way that’s easy to recognize, difficult to create, and even harder to forget. 

Russian designer Olga Vilshenko combines an Eastern European eye for folk detailing with a professional woman’s practicality. Look to her for bossy-lady separates, witty professionalism, and some of the most stunning peasant-style evening gowns around.