Founded in 1989, BCBG is the lifetime vision of one man: Founder, Designer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Max Azria. In 1981, after eleven years of designing a line of women's wear in his native Paris, Azria moved to the United States and launched Jess, a series of new-concept retail boutiques offering hip French fashion to American women. After years of success, Azria decided to pursue his dream of launching a design house that spoke to the modern woman-thus BCBGMAXAZRIA was born. Named for the French phrase "bon chic, bon genre," a slang meaning "good style, good attitude," the brand embodies a true combination of European sophistication and American spirit. With the launch of the BCBGMAXAZRIA brand, he redefined the designer category by offering innovative, high-quality clothing at contemporary price points. As a result, Azria was inducted into the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 1998.
Reinforcing BCBGMAXAZRIA as a premiere American fashion brand, Azria successfully launched his collection on the runway for the first time during New York's Fall 1996 Fashion Week. The following season, The New York Times hailed, "Mr. Azria imbued his collection with worldly elan." In February 2006, in response to both his critical success and the needs and aspirations of his most discerning customers, Azria launched an exclusive runway designer collection called Max Azria. The collection allows Azria to explore his creativity full force, ultimately resulting in a line of directional, sophisticated designs in the most luxurious fabrics. In 1998 BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP acquired the Herve Leger fashion house, marking the first time in history that a French couturier had been absorbed by an American designer. Azria relaunched the Herve Leger label in early 2007. For Fall 2008, in addition to showing BCBCMAXAZRIA and Max Azria during New York Fashion Week, Azria presented his Herve Leger by Max Azria collection. This marked the first time that an American designer produced three major fashion shows for three distinct collections during one New York fashion week.
The Fall 2008 season also witnessed the merging of the BCBGirls and To The Max collections to create one, comprehensive, young-contemporary lifestyle brand named BCBGeneration, which is designed for women of all generations seeking fashion that balances a feminine, sexy aesthetic with an eclectic and urban sensibility. In Fall 2009, Azria again expanded the Group with a new collaborative collection with teen superstar Miley Cyrus.
