After leaving the Fashion Institute of Technology, Michael Kors worked at the boutique Lothar's. The fashionable shop stood on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, across from Bergdorf Goodman.
Kors joined Lothar's in the late 1970s, initially working as a salesperson and visual display designer. He soon began designing for the boutique's in-house line, giving him an unusually early opportunity to combine retail, merchandising and clothing design. The store's glamorous clientele included figures such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Diana Ross and Rudolf Nureyev.
Lothar's is often mixed up with the department stores in Kors's later career. Bergdorf Goodman helped launch his independent label in 1981 after fashion executive Dawn Mello noticed his work, while Saks Fifth Avenue also sold his collection. Neither was the boutique where he developed his earliest professional experience; that formative workplace was Lothar's.