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Founded by Alice Kriemler Schoch in 1922, Akris is a Swiss fashion house specializing in expert tailoring and refined pieces for the modern woman.

Akris has championed sleek tailoring since 1922, and this legacy continues under creative director Albert Kriemler. Expect clean-line silhouettes cut from luxurious fabrics—silk tops, wool skirts and leather handbags are a few of our favorites.

What began with Schoch’s polka dot aprons has evolved into an international brand with an array of chic power suits, streamlined dresses, on-trend outerwear and statement handbags. Master the perfect desk-to-drinks ensemble with an art-inspired coat or dress to impress on date night with a chic ponyhair sheath. Whether you’re bundling up for the winter in a shearling jacket or frequenting the farmer’s market in sleek silk separates, you can’t go wrong with Akris.

Easy-to-wear essentials reimagined for the modern-day woman.

Now distributed worldwide, through over 600 doors, Akris has particular traction in the American department store market thanks to its elegant yet unfussy aesthetic and, in its early years in the US market, strong backing from Neiman Marcus.

Kriemler joined the family business in 1980. When he was just 20, Kriemler’s father Max, who was in charge of the company, asked his son to help Akris’ studio transition after the death of his right hand man. Kriemler had been about to travel from his hometown of St Gallen in Switzerland, to Paris for fashion school (and an apprenticeship at Givenchy’s atelier). Kriemler never left and, in 1987, his brother Peter joined him and took on the management of the business.

In the three and a half decades since, Kriemler has built Akris into what the Financial Times dubbed “the most successful label you’ve never heard of.” Known for its couture-quality materials — Kriemler once told W magazine that he simply “cannot work with cheap fabrics” — and commitment to craftsmanship, Akris has won over customers for well-fitted, wearable pieces that blend ultra-luxe with ultra-functionality. The brand has developed a reputation for dressing powerful women who want to look sleek, without standing out as too high fashion, and can count Princess Charlene of Monaco, former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and actress Angelina Jolie amongst its clients. In 2004, it was invited to join the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode — one of only a few non-French brands to have received such an honour.

"My clothes are not obvious. I hate trends and shameless self-promotion,” he says. “I’d rather create a sense of selbstverständlichkeit, or naturalness.” It’s an idea often applied in architecture, an area of enduring interest for Kriemler, whose work has been inspired by the highly textured facades created by the Swiss firm Herzog and de Meuron and by the art and architecture of early 20th-century Vienna. “I believe that when fashion has a narrative and a design-driven concept behind it,” says Kriemler, “the most interesting clothing pieces can also transcend into art forms.”