Above: Tim Groen: Koos van den Akker, New York
Koos van den Akker, Designer
“This is my life’” says Koos. “Could I have made more money? Absolutely. But that would have happened at the expense of what I wanted.” What Koos wanted was to travel, to be around glamour, and have an all-round fabulous life. Talking to Koos is fun; he curses like a sailor and, being in his early 70’s now, he has no patience for false modesty—which I love.
As a handsome gay young man in New York in the 1970’s, Koos had the right age, in the right place, at the right time. Not everyone got what he was doing, but once Koos set up shop, it didn’t take long for the celebrities (of the caliber he obsessed on as a kid) to take note. When times changed business sizzled out a bit, but within two decades a new generation of fashion designers, including Marc Jacobs and Nicholas Ghesquiere, rediscovered Koos and cited him as a major source of inspiration. There is so much to talk about with Koos that I feel like I’m leaving too much out, like the celebrities, or the amazing apartments he has lived in in New York. Or how much fun Koos has had with the love of his life. Recapping seven decades in less then 2000 words just isn’t feasible; here are some of the things we did talk about.
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