New York, USA
Designer
Born in Bournemouth England Simon Collins is a design thinker, speaker, writer, designer, educator and advisor. Following a career as a fashion designer then creative director for brands like Nike, Polo and Zegna, he spent seven years as Dean of the School of Fashion at Parsons where he helped turn the quietly respected design school into a global mega-brand that partnered with luxury groups like Kering and LVMH. During his tenure he helped move the School of Fashion downtown to the main campus, launch the MFA in Fashion Design and Society, and open the new Parsons Paris.
Collins was named one of the first 500 Leaders of Global Fashion by The Business of Fashion and as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company Magazine. His Chinese CCTV6 show "Creative Sky," enjoyed a regular audience of 5 million though its five seasons.
In 2014 Assouline published his book “The School of Fashion,” which detailed the history of 30 notable Parsons alumni, from Donna Karan to Alexander Wang. He also established an onstage Conversation Series with guests such as Victoria Beckham, Francois-Henri Pinault and Giancarlo Giammetti.
In 2015, he stepped down from the role of dean at Parsons and joined the school's Board of Governors. In addition to chairing the Advisory Board for Global trend group WGSN he founded The House of Collins, a consultancy to advise brands, institutions, fashion weeks and governments around the world.
Collins writes for publications including the Wall Street Journal, Business of Fashion, The Impression, Opening Ceremony and At Large magazine, and he frequently comments on design in the media, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN and NPR. Collins speaks on the world’s foremost stages including Cannes Lions (France), the United Nations (NYC), the Global Fashion Summit
(Copenhagen) and the YPO Conference (NYC).
In 2016 Collins launched the Fashion Culture Design Unconference in New York, the first major global platform for creative discussion, ideas and problem-solving. FCD has become an ecosystem of unconferences, salons, podcasts and events. It is now moving around the world with FCD China scheduled for 2018.
To share his passion for Design Thinking more widely in July 2017 Collins co-founded WeDesign – a worldwide platform for design learning bringing the best art and design education to everyone from kindergarteners to executives around the world.
Simon Collins has spent his career creating beautiful solutions. He is passionate about great design and he travels the world speaking about his adventures.
