[1] When she was ten, she used scraps from her mother's sewing machine and prepared Barbie doll costumes.

[6] While studying at the Emerson High School in Union City, she collaborated with a friend on making mini and maxi skirts and selling them to boutiques in New York.

She later joined a junior sportswear firm, Sunday's Workclothes, who sent her to a lot to countries like India, Hong Kong, Italy, France and Taiwan.

[7] In 1981, after positive feedback on her designs, she quit her day job and started working on her label full-time.

She held that position until 2004, when she moved to San Francisco and started teaching at the Academy of Art University where she taught until 2010.

"[4] During the 80s, her designs were featured in magazines such as Vogue, Elle[11] and Glamour and her work has appeared on the covers of Women's Wear Daily and Harpers Bazaar,[12][13] as well as in The New York Times and The Record.

"[15] In 1986, Women's Wear Daily called her a "shoestring entrepreneur" referring to the fact that she worked without financial backers or factors.