He was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, US in 1961. He graduated from Parsons School for Design New York in 1981. His first job as a fashion designer was as an assistant stylist to Laura Biagiotti in Rome (1982). He then worked briefly in French couture, with Christian Dior, and later on as a sportswear designer for Gloria Sachs. He joined fashion house Caroline Rehm as creative director in 1985. From 1993 to 1997 he worked as a designer for Donna Karan in New York, and in mid-1997 he was hired as head designer for the women’s collection of Nino Cerruti. Since 2002 he has been working exclusively for Donna Karan, where he is also vice chairman. He has also worked as a costume designer for dancer Karole Armitage, who maintains her own dance group, as well as for the Rambert Dance Company of London. He collaborated with the GNO as a costume designer in the production of The Birds (Armitage/Hatjidakis/Aristophanes), staged in the summer of 2000 as part of the Athens Festival.