Monah Li

Monah Li is a Viennese-born, Los Angeles-based fashion designer, best known for her feminine, deconstructed clothes. She is credited by numerous fashion writers with popularizing the post-modern Bohemian chic look and with starting the trend of up-cycling and re-purposing vintage dresses, sweaters and slips.

Her dresses, cashmere sweaters and skirts have been featured in People Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, and Los Angeles Magazine, and "worn by celebrities such Christina Ricci, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman and Ione Skye." Salma Hayek, Barbra Streisand, Gina Gershon, Liv Tyler, Goldie Hawn, Jada Pinkett Smith and Madonna. She also designed Alyssa Milano's wedding dress. She has designed for bebe stores as both as the head designer in the Los Angeles office, and as a freelance designer. Her own labels include Monah Li, Monah Li Couture and Monahmour.

Monah Li's romantic, eclectic silhouettes are designed to be worn by women of all sizes. She increasingly favors "normal" and larger-sized models, as well as real women, over traditionally thin, professional fashion models in her shows. Her use of over-dyed silk, velvet and satin with lace insets, called the "rich Bohemian look" have made her one of the most knocked-off designers in her genre. In December 1999 she received a settlement from Italian designer Patty Shelabarger, who had offered to represent Li's line in Europe,"removed the labels from Li's clothing and sewed in her own." and she is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, writing about fashion, and more recently her recovery from nineteen years of bulimia. She contributed a story to Love Addict: Sex, Romance, and Other Dangerous Drugs; her screenplay, Fashion Slaves, begins production in fall, 2011 with independent film house BlancBiehn Productions.

Career Monah Li began her career as a teenager making her own clothes in Vienna. Her dresses attracted attention and were bought by boutiques in her hometown and in Düsseldorf, Germany. She rallied a group of other local designers and founded the Coalition of Los Angeles Designers in 1998; the group is now defunct, but while active, staged fashion shows and worked to bring awareness about innovative Los Angeles clothing to a wider audience. and branched out into large scale manufacturing of her designs for department stores. Unfortunately, a production contractor "did such shoddy work that stores nationwide returned the merchandise," costing her business $800,000 in two months. Despite the setback, she put together a fashion show for New York in Spring 2000, where reps from Bebe saw her designs and immediately hired her as head designer for their newly created Los Angeles office.

Bebe CEO and founder Manny Mashouf told the Los Angeles Times, "Her dresses are highly designed in terms of seams and details. They're sexy and feminine and have a fluid motion." Fashion writer Lauri Pike said of Monah Li's hiring, "It's a great matchup in a lot of ways. I think of those [Bebe] clothes as being a little too young and slutty. But if Monah Li designs for them, I'm going to watch it. If they want to pull ahead of their competition or appeal to slightly older women, Monah Li could be very helpful." which was called "one of the most visually stimulating and breathtaking shows of the week."

Monah Li then started a partnership with a manufacturing company, but there were disagreements. The business ended in 2007. In 2008, she and her author/screenwriter boyfriend were married. After their divorce in 2010 and the completion of her counseling internships, Monah Li returned to designing, with a fashion show featuring her classic looks in March 2011.

Personal life Monah Li has been married three times. She has a grown daughter by her second husband. She now is with Musian artist actor- Joel Turrisi, drummer- Joan Jett-20/20-the Know.Blondie: They now live in Santa Fe