Gabriela Hearst Timeline

1976

Gabriela is born in Uruguay to a family of six generations of ranchers. She grows up on her family's 17,000 acre ranch surrounded by horses, cattle and merino sheep. From ages five to seventeen, she attends The British School of Montevideo, one of the oldest and most reputable institutions in Uruguay. Gabriela then moves to Australia for a full school calendar year to study at Lake Ginninderra College, and returns to Uruguay to pursue her studies in Communications and Audio Visual Productions at the Universidad ORT.

2000

In her early 20s, after a short period in Paris, she moves to New York to study Performing Arts at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre.

2003

Gabriela launches Candela with two Latin partners, with a $700 investment from each. Starting from a t-shirt line and expanding to Ready-to-Wear and Footwear, Candela is able to generate one million dollars in revenue in its first year of business. In 2009, during the recession, Candela grew at high double digit growth, and Footwear became 60% of the annual revenue.

2008

Gabriela becomes a mother of identical twins, Mia and Olivia.

2011

Gabriela inherits her father’s ranching operation and becomes the 7th generation in the family business.

2012

After 11 years working in design Gabriela becomes a member of the CFDA.

2015

Gabriela Hearst launches its first womenswear collection for Autumn Winter with two main values: Long Term View and Sustainability. A brand that reflects a slower pace and process. Where tradition influences more than trend, where there is a purpose to every piece, where it’s all in the details. “I wanted to create a brand that had that feeling of things that are well made and long lasting.”

The company begins a partnership with Manos del Uruguay, a 50-year-old non-profit women’s cooperative that empowers the rural women who are in charge of the production of Gabriela Hearst hand-knits.

In June, Gabriela gives birth to her son Jack.

2016

Gabriela Hearst introduces Handbags. In the interest of maintaining her values of sustainability, she decides to produce the bags in limited quantities and by request only. Gabriela wins the 2016/17 International Woolmark Prize USA.

2017

In January, Gabriela wins the 2016/17 Womenswear International Woolmark Prize.

Gabriela Hearst presents its first runway show using about 30% deadstock fabrics, eliminating the use of plastic from both Front and Back of House and repurposing all the elements of the show.

The company introduces TIPA flexible packaging, which offers biobased alternatives to traditional plastic packaging that are fully compostable within six months.

Gabriela Hearst introduces a silver-plated fabric in the interior pockets of jackets and coats which adds both antimicrobial and radio wave shielding properties.

For Resort 2018, a brand new fabrication is introduced: aloe-treated linen, a much more complete fiber than cotton because it absorbs less water as a crop and at the same time, its flaxseed can be used for nutritional value.

In July, Gabriela visited rural Turkana County, Kenya, with Save the Children upon learning East Africa was facing its worst drought in 70 years, putting 20 million people at risk of famine. After witnessing the unfairness of climate change first-hand with mass screening for malnutrition, water scarcity, complete loss of animal stock, a currency and a source for vital survival, Gabriela Hearst pledges $600K for funds needed to cover the needs of 1,000 families in the area she visited. So for the first time ever, over a single week, the handbags were available to purchase with its retail partners Net-A-Porter and Bergdorf Goodman. The money was raised in 2 days.

2018

Following Gabriela Hearst’s Autumn Winter 2018 show at Cafe Altro Paradiso, Vogue named it among the Top 10 Collections of New York Fashion Week.

In February, Gabriela Hearst opens its Paris showroom at 1 Avenue Montaigne.

In April, on Earth Day, Gabriela makes a commitment to eliminate plastic for front and back of house, and replaces it with compostable packaging.

In May, Gabriela receives Pratt’s Fashion Visionary Award for her commitment to sustainability.

Spring Summer 2019 collection, Gabriela Hearst introduces piqué and twill suits spun from wool from her family’s six-generation merino sheep farm in Uruguay, a process that took a year and a half to execute and introduced vertical integration. Vogue named Gabriela Hearst’s Spring Summer 2019 collection among the Top 10 Collections of New York Fashion Week.

In September, Gabriela Hearst is appointed to Save the Children’s Board of Trustees.

In November, Gabriela Hearst opens its NY flagship store at 985 Madison Avenue. It’s built with a conscientious approach, without the use of synthetics or chemicals, using non-treated natural reclaimed oak, built-in light occupancy sensors to reduce electrical consumption and a filtered water fountain that eliminates the need for plastic bottles. 90% of the material waste generated during construction was recycled.

2019

LVMH Luxury Ventures takes a minority stake in Gabriela Hearst.

In February, Gabriela Hearst opens a shop in shop at Bergdorf Goodman.

In April, Gabriela Hearst achieves the goal of being plastic-free in both Front and Back of House using compostable packaging and recycled cardboard hangers.

In June, Gabriela Hearst launches its Menswear collection at its own retail stores, Mr. Porter and Bergdorf Goodman.

In August, Gabriela Hearst opens its London store in Mayfair, at 59 Brook Street, designed by Norman Foster and sustainably built using reclaimed wood and non-toxic, vegetable dyed leather and linen curtains rather than cotton. Simultaneously, Gabriela Hearst opens a shop-in-shop at Harrods, also designed by Norman Foster.

Spring Summer 2020, Gabriela Hearst produces the first ever carbon neutral runway show. A donation was made in each guest’s name to non-profit Our Children’s Trust. December 2nd-9th, Gabriela Hearst donated 100% of net proceeds from all products in its flagship stores and website to Save the Children to support child nutrition and relief efforts in Yemen.

2020

Gabriela Hearst sets a goal to use 50% non-virgin materials by 2020.

In February, Gabriela Hearst announces its partnership with EON, a leading digital identity platform for the fashion and apparel industry, connecting products throughout their lifecycle by unlocking visibility, traceability, and insight through a QR code. The goal is to provide customers with more transparency by sharing the supply chain and giving them access to learn about their garment’s journey.

The premise of the Gabriela Hearst Autumn Winter 2020 collection was to devise further techniques to work with waste that would not compromise the quality or aesthetic values of the company. Antique remnants of Turkish rugs were pieced together for outerwear, existing pieces of cashmere outerwear from prior collections were deconstructed and reassembled with blanket stitch, and recycled cashmere was reprinted and repurposed. This idea permeated both the collection and creative direction of the show. Recycled shredded paper bales from a recycling facility in Brooklyn were used as set design. The paper bales were kept in their original size and condition and then returned to the recycling company.

Vogue named Gabriela Hearst's Autumn Winter 2020 collection among theTop 10 Collections of New York Fashion Week.

Gabriela Hearst was nominated by the CFDA for Womenswear Designer of the Year and Accessories Designer of the Year.

Gabriela Hearst wins the American Womenswear Designer of the Year Award at the 2020 CFDA Fashion Awards.

Gabriela Hearst presents her Spring Summer 2021 collection for the first time at Paris Fashion Week, at the Ecole Des Beaux-Arts courtyard. This heavily handcrafted collection was comprised of 60% deadstock materials and was a carbon neutral runway show.

Gabriela Hearst wins the 2020 Fashion Award in the Environment Category, celebrating her work and the positive change it had within the fashion industry.

On December 7, Gabriela Hearst was named Creative Director at Chloé

2021

In January, Hearst designed the dress worn by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden for the 2021 presidential inauguration: an ivory dress representing the new administration’s message of unity with each of the fifty state’s flowers.

For its Spring Summer show, Gabriela Hearst worked with the Navajo community bringing the Americas craft together in a collection along the work of Uruguay and Bolivia, through the work of the not-for-profits they work with.

As of September 2021 through September 5th 2022, one of Gabriela Hearst’s looks is featured at the Met Costume Institute as part of the exhibit “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion”.

Gabriela Hearst is nominated as American Womenswear Designer of the Year and Accessories Designer of the Year at the 2021 CFDA Fashion Awards.

In October, Gabriela is selected among the fifteen Leaders of Change at the Fashion Awards 2021 as one of the five Honourees in the Environment category.

In December, Gabriela Hearst was nominated by the Financial Times as one of the 25 most influential women of the year.

From December 1st through December 25th, Gabriela Hearst donated 100% of net proceeds from all products in its flagship stores and website to Save the Children to support their Afghanistan Crisis Relief fund.

2022

Gabriela received the 2022 Infinity Trustees Award by the International Center of Photography.

The Spring Summer show was a celebration of women with an army of activists and friends cast alongside models, including former president of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards, climate activist Xiye Bastida, anti-toxic shock syndrome activist Lauren Wasser and author Roda Ahmed. The Resistance Revival Chorus (RRC), a collective of women and non-binary singers, performed “This Joy,” (commonly known as 'This Joy I Have') a gospel song written by Pastor Shirley Caesar.

In November, Gabriela Hearst participated at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) to discuss the critical role fusion power has in the fight against climate change.

Gabriela Hearst co-hosted and was nominated as American Womenswear Designer of the Year at the 2022 CFDA Fashion Awards. In December, Gabriela was selected among the fifteen Leaders of Change at the British Fashion Council’s 2022 Fashion Awards as one of the five Honorees in the Environment category.

From December 1st through December 25th, Gabriela Hearst donated 100% of net proceeds from all products in its flagship stores and website to Save the Children to support their Global Hunger Crisis Response.

In December, Gabriela Hearst opened its first retail residence in Seoul, South Korea at Hyundai Department Store Apgujeong Main Branch.

2023

In January, the Gabriela Hearst ensemble worn by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to the 2021 presidential inauguration evening celebration joined the First Ladies Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The ensemble includes an ivory double-breasted cashmere coat, an ivory silk wool cady dress and face mask, with embroidery reflecting the federal flowers from every state and territory of the U.S. as a symbol of unity.

The Autumn Winter 2023 show was inspired by Irish artist, architect, and furniture designer Eileen Gray, who was a pioneer of the modernist movement that began in the 1920s. Gabriela Hearst collaborated with Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura on the set design, inspired by Ricardo Bofill’s utopian 'The City in Space’ (La Ciudad en el Espacio). For her collection, Gabriela Hearst collaborated with Tricker’s, one of the longest-established shoemakers in England founded in 1829.

On August 29, 2023, Gabriela Hearst launched her first fragrance, in collaboration with Fueguia 1833, with two unique scents inspired by the two geographies of her life: Paysandú and New York. The editions of the first batch, I-XXII, are numbered up to 315 of each fragrance.

In September 2023, she was honored with the 2023 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion by The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT (MFIT).

She was the Creative Director of Chloé from December 2020 to September 2023, and the first female Latin American designer to take the helm of a Paris fashion house. During her role, Chloé was the first European luxury fashion house to receive B Corp certification and she dedicated the Chloé Spring Summer 2023 collection to creating awareness around fusion energy, learning from engineers, scientists and both the private sector (Commonwealth Fusion System and Helion Energy) and the public sector (Iter and the UK Atomic Energy Authority) to work on the collection.

On November 9, 2023, Gabriela Hearst opened the first store and flagship on the West Coast on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, designed by Foster + Partners led by Norman Foster and featuring a bespoke ‘Nomad’ furniture collection by Benji Gavron and Antoine Dumas of Gavron Dumas Studio, with an emphasis on natural materials inspired by Gabriela’s family ranch in Uruguay.

From December 1st through December 25th, Gabriela Hearst donated 100% of net proceeds from all products in its flagship stores and website to Save the Children to support its Children’s Emergency Response Fund (CEF).

In December 2023, Gabriela Hearst participated in the “An Inclusive Fusion Energy Future” panel, part of the Global Energy Forum, at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (CoP28) in Dubai (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES). At this event hosted by the Atlantic Council, the U.S. officially launched its first international fusion strategy, presented by John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

2024

In March, TIME announced Gabriela Hearst as one of the honorees of the 2024 TIME Earth Awards, which recognizes individuals influencing the future of the planet through their work on climate justice, awareness, and activism.

In April, Gabriela Hearst designed the costumes for the world premiere of female-first 'Carmen' at San Francisco Ballet as part of Dos Mujeres, the company’s first-ever double bill of works by Latina choreographers. In her stage design debut, Gabriela Hearst created the costumes crafted entirely from merino wool, the most sustainable fabric.

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Gabriela Hearst Timeline