Florence Hone

Florence Hone (born 3 June, 1956), is an Asian fashion designer well-known for her work with Versace, Gucci and many other fashion houses.

Background
Florence Hone was born in Nanmatu, Myanmar as Kyi Kyi Nwe, youngest daughter of a civil servant and a seamstress. On her father’s side, she was a descendant of a Scotsman who immigrated to which was then Burma in the colonial times.

She was educated at St. Hilda finishing school, England, and completed her studies at Sorbonne, much against the wishes of her father who wanted her to become a civil servant. Yielding to her family’s wishes, she returned home and served as a teacher for many years. Meanwhile, she maintained her fashion connections, serving as a talent scout, a correspondent designer, and a writer for fashion periodicals.

In 1994, she answered job offer from Versace, which became her first formal contract in years. At the age of 38, she was ‘an old lady on the block’ but her Oriental minimalist style was popular with Gianni Versace. After Versace was shot dead, her relationship with his successor Donatella Versace was not so cordial. For four more years, Hone remained as Versace’s Asian market fashion advisor, a job which she disliked.

In 2001, her ‘Indian Summer’ line enthralled the Paris Fashion Week. Soon after, she was hired by Gucci, where she worked at women’s prêt-a-porter designer for a year. In 2002, she entered freelancing and worked with Salvatore Ferragamo, Hermes Scarves and Christian Lacroix.

In 2003, she was criticized by animal rights activists in Italy for using sable fur in coat linings. In October 2003, she drew criticism again for saying Asian designers don’t make big news ‘because they think their watering holes are the oceans, and they generally lack the knowledge of bigger picture’. She later apologized.

Florence Hone has always been more of a society clothier than a fashion designer. Since 2004, she has primarily worked as a clothier to the rich and famous and has not been affiliated with any fashion houses.

Her notable clients include Monica Bellucci, Famke Jansen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zara Phillips, Lady Victoria Hervey, Princess Caroline of Monaco, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Heather Mills and Hannah, Marquis of Salisbury.

In 2003, she was awarded André Leon Talley Award for Excellence.

She has hinted at retirement for a number of years. Gucci’s new creative designer Frida Giannini, her friend since her first tenure at Gucci, expressed her desire to engage Hone as a designer for high-end collections, but Hone’s notable absence at Paris and Cannes in 2008 fueled further speculations.

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