Henriette Ernst is a fashion designer with over twenty-five years of international experience in design and branding. Maintaining an influential, behind-the-scenes role throughout her career, Henriette is deeply respected within the industry for her distinct aesthetic, creative approach, and focused methodology.
Her visionary style infuses elements of simplicity, functionality, craftsmanship and innovation as she uncovers, develops, and strengthens the DNA of the brands she supports, ensuring consistency and authenticity to ultimately drive awareness and sales.
Henriette’s critical eye and remarkable taste with color and timing, have led her to develop countless concepts, materials and designs that were not only unique for each brand, but also influenced fashion.
Through her career, Henriette has worked with designer brands such as Céline, Jil Sander, Calvin Klein Collection and Dries Van Noten. She has not only hold leading positions, but she has also placed her own creative fingerprint on collections by being a strong force and supporter of each of the brand’s creative directors, including designers - Phoebe Philo, Raf Simons, Dries Van Noten, Francisco Costa, Andrea Lieberman, and Christian Wijnants among others.
Henriette also serves as an independent design consultant responsible for the overall direction of her client brands, as well as interpreting and distilling trends, elevating each brand’s aesthetic and working closely with the founders to clarify a brand’s signature identity. She consults closely with each brand’s teams to bridge design, production and merchandising to streamline processes, improve efficiency and communication, while mentoring and energizing talent.
Henriette graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium in 1994 with great distinction in Fashion Design. She began working in New York City in 2012 before moving to Los Angeles in April 2017, and relocated back to Europe in 2020.
