Lisa Kulson

Lisa Kulson is an American fashion designer whose career has centred on modern womenswear, fit and fabric. After design studies in California and early work in Los Angeles, she moved to New York and designed private-label collections for retailers including Ann Taylor and The Limited. She joined Theory at its foundation in 1997 as head designer and became the principal operational author of its early womenswear.

Kulson left Theory in the early 2000s to establish her own label, developing the collection partly through Italian mills and production. She later consulted for projects including H by Tommy Hilfiger and returned to Theory as a consultant in 2012, moving back into full-time leadership before becoming women’s creative director in 2014. In 2015 she and menswear leader Ben Stubbington were publicly named co-creative directors, with Kulson retaining direct responsibility for womenswear until her 2017 departure.

In 2021, Kulson joined Spanx as chief creative officer as the company expanded further into apparel. She subsequently returned to independent design and is now founder and creative director of KULSON, a New York luxury collection that revisits the restrained, fabric-led wardrobe language running through her earlier work.

Kulson designs from silhouette, fit and material quality. Her clothes favour clean shirts, soft tailoring, knitwear, trousers and coats whose distinction comes through proportion, hand and construction, giving familiar wardrobe pieces enough specificity to feel considered without becoming dependent on seasonal novelty.

Across Theory, her earlier namesake work, Spanx and KULSON, she has repeatedly treated clothing as a system for women moving through work, travel and everyday life. The recurring qualities are ease, technical control, luxurious fabric and a preference for style that can survive beyond a single fashion moment.