NET-A-PORTER is an online, London, United Kingdom-based luxury clothing and accessories retailer. The website, presented in the style of a fashion magazine, was launched in 2000 and now stocks over 300 international brands such as Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Chloe and Miu Miu. It ships to 170 countries and offers same day delivery in London and Manhattan.

The London-based website was launched in June 2000 by Natalie Massenet, a former magazine journalist and stylist. It now employs more than 500 people in New York City and London and claims to attract over two million viewers per month.

It is now owned by Richemont, a Swiss luxury goods company that was founded in 1988 by the late South African businessman, Anton Rupert. Richemont has four main business areas: jewellery, watches, writing instruments and clothing. As of 2007, it is the third-largest luxury goods company in the world by turnover, behind LVMH and PPR, its two main competitors in the luxury goods market.

The 300-odd designers represented range from world-wide “superbrands” like Burberry Prorsum, Fendi and Givenchy to smaller cult favorites like 3.1 Philip Lim and Alexander Wang. In May, it will stock J.Crew. This will be the first time the label will be available outside the US and Canada.

The selection is geared towards women. The website carries an extensive shoe and accessories collection in addition to apparel. Christian Louboutin, Giuseppe Zanotti, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent are some of the shoe designers currently carried by NET-A-PORTER.

My time at NY Fashion Week allowed me to meet with some truly inspiring people. One such person that I had the privilege of chatting with was Jenna Lyons (the creative director of J. Crew).

Originally from Palos Verdes, California, Jenna decided that she wanted a career in fashion after learning to sew in her seventh grade home ec class.

She later attended Parson’s School of Design and then began her career with J.Crew. Jenna worked her way up within the company and now oversees the creative direction of the entire company including all clothing design and visual merchandising in the store and catalog.

In addition to completely revamping J.Crew and taking it to a whole new level of stylishness, Jenna is completely gifted at interior design. Her Brooklyn home has provided many with hours of eye-candy.

She has since re-styled the J. Crew stores and made shopping there an amazing experience. Jenna visited Paris flea markets for all of the personal touches in their new NYC store.

And on top of all of this she is an amazing boss. She spoke of the importance of really empowering everyone that you work with. Jenna believes that it is crucial to foster each person’s creativity.

In the above photo: Jenna and I in the Amex Skybox at NY Fashion Week. It was such a pleasure and complete honor to meet her. I love meeting women who know how to lead with style and grace.

Ivanka Marie Trump was born on October 30th in 1980. She began modeling as a teenager and her first cover was a 1997 issue of Seventeen. Since then, she has made her way down fashion runways for Versace, Marc Bouwer and Thierry Mugler. She has done advertisement campaigns for Tommy Hilfiger and Sassoon Jeans and was featured on the cover of Stuff in August 2006 and again in September 2007. She was also recently featured on the covers of Forbes, Golf Magazine, Avenue Magazine, Elle Mexico and in the October 2007 issue of Harper’s Bazaar

She attended The Chapin School in New York City, and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. She spent two years at Georgetown University, then transferred to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude in 2004 with a B.S. in Economics.

In 2006, she appeared on her father’s television program The Apprentice 5. Ivanka visited the site of the tasks and spoke to the teams, asking them pointed questions. She also evaluated contestants in the boardroom, pointing out critical errors and rebutting excuses they offered for losing the tasks.

Ivanka is Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions at the The Trump Organization. Before joining the family business she worked for Forest City Enterprises.

She joined forces with Dynamic Diamond Corp., a diamond trading company sightholder, to design and be the spokesmodel for a line of jewelry at the brand’s first flagship retail store The “Ivanka Trump Collection” on Madison Avenue in NYC.

Pictured below is the Ivanka Trump Collection jewelry store on Madison Avenue.

She recently penned her autobiography titled “The Trump Card.” It is a wonderfully witty and insightful book about her fascinating upbringing and is filled with great insights about the modern business world. I personally enjoyed her many unique business tips on how to take advantage of being a woman in a man’s world. Her voice is very humble yet confident. This is a must read for any 21st century woman looking to advance herself with class.