She has had a fashion business in New York since the late 1980s, the same decade that Michael Kors and Donna Karan launched their eponymous lines. He was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1998. From 1999 to 2018, he presented two collections each year, some on the New York Fashion Week schedule.
But Michael Brown, 66, and his brand, B Michael, are not household names. While the designer, who goes by the name B Michael, has done capsule collections for Saks Fifth Avenue and sold other pieces in a few specialty stores, many of his clothes have never been offered to the masses.
For most of his career, B Michael has focused on bespoke pieces — some everyday items and others for red carpets, galas or photo shoots. He describes his aesthetic as “a modern day Audrey Hepburn”. Beyoncé, Halle Berry, Whitney Houston, Diahann Carroll, Lena Horne and jazz singer Nancy Wilson have worn B Michael clothing.
Some designs have gained huge attention, such as a floppy hat worn by actress Cicely Tyson, who died in 2021; wore to the funeral of singer Aretha Franklin. (Early in his career, B Michael designed hats for the TV show “Dynasty.”) After the service, the designer said, Mrs. Tyson told him it was the first time in her life she had ever been “raised by a hat. “
B Michael’s friendship with her is the subject of his new book, ‘Muse: Cicely Tyson and Me: A Relationship Forged in Fashion’, out in January. It chronicles the bond they built through clothing and features dresses he made for the actress, including one she wore to the 2013 Tony Awards that drew comparisons to a purple scrunchie.
He describes his work as a version of haute couture, a term that technically can only be used by fashion houses licensed by the French Ministry of Industry. After creating a full collection of garment samples, she said, “my private customers come in and I make a muslin and we do multiple fittings.” As a black designer who makes this type of clothing, he added, he has been sought after by some black customers who had the means to buy couture but might not have had access to it.
Actress Phylicia Rashad, 75, has been a client since 2015. She said what she liked most about the designer was not his race or ethnicity, but his work ethic.
“He’s a great designer,” she said. “Period.” Ms. Rashad added of his process: “He works not so much from pattern as from inspiration, and from inspiration he creates that pattern.”
Dawn Davis, 57, a publisher at Simon & Schuster and former editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit, said she has been wearing B Michael clothes for two decades. Ms. Davis, who is black, described the items she bought as investment pieces. “These purchases seemed like overkill at the time,” he said. “But if I were to amortize the cost over 20 years, I’d say they’re worth the investment.”
Ms Davis declined to comment on how much she has paid for B Michael’s clothing and Ms Rashad declined to comment when asked if she paid for her products. B Michael declined to comment on how much he charges for tracks, saying he’ll “never kiss and tell.”
“The women who buy my clothes are wearing Chanel, Valentino, Dior, so I’m competing with them,” he said.
Peter Arnold, who was the executive director at the CFDA when B Michael was brought into the organisation, said it was remarkable that he had kept his business in an industry that can chew people up and spit them out. “I think that really speaks to the appeal of what he’s doing and his own personal resonance,” said Mr. Arnold, who is now the executive director of the Fashion Scholarship Fund. B Michael clothing has always had a “clear and subtle” outlook, he added.
Designer Tracy Reese, who is Black and started her eponymous fashion business in New York in 1996, described B Michael as “under the radar.” He said the designer had not received enough credit for the business he built.
“A lot of times when you’re doing a lot of custom and red carpet work, dollars and cents don’t always work,” Ms. Rees, 59, said. “Michael has had a truly long and rewarding career.”
B Michael said he has maintained his business by remaining focused and authentic in his approach. “I always put out a collection and I always make it to the next season,” he said. “And that’s the important thing.”
Born and raised in Connecticut, he cut his teeth making hats for designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Louis Féraud after attending the Fashion Institute of Technology. In 1989, he started his own line of millinery and 10 years later, he turned his interest to clothing. Although he had been involved in the fashion industry for more than a decade by then, B Michael described himself as extreme at the time.
The industry “wasn’t ready to embrace a black American designer doing high-end luxury,” he said, and it was difficult to get the media attention that small brands rely on for exposure. “We all know about the struggles,” he said of being black in fashion. “But I think that conversation could be had with the people who created them.”
Since 2010, he has run his business with Mark-Anthony Edwards, the president and CEO of B Michael, and the designer’s husband for nearly a decade. (They married in 2014.)
“I’m completely focused on just the business of it all,” Mr Edwards, 52, said. “And he does what he does so beautifully,” she added of her husband.
B Michael said his business has had angel investors in the past, but declined to comment on whether it currently has investors. It has never received takeover offers, he said, and has never had a “huge engine” behind its brand, which has shrunk during the pandemic. In addition to Mr. Edwards, he works with a pattern maker and a media manager in his Manhattan studio.
There are plans for the brand to expand into e-commerce, B Michael said, and is developing a ready-to-wear line inspired by his made-to-measure clothing. “I will pay attention to fit and detail, using excellent construction, so that the ready-to-wear still reflects my point of view,” he said.
B Michael, reflecting on his career, said his intention was always to have a successful business. “Design is subjective, fashion is subjective,” he said. “It’s really about understanding the business model.”
More recently, however, he was driven by another motive. “Now it’s a personal thing for me to be a legacy brand as a black American designer,” he said.