Brandon Maxwell

Recorded with the occupation dressmaker. Recorded with the occupation fashion designer. Recorded with the occupation reality television program judge. Recorded with the occupation photographer.

• Name — Brandon Maxwell • Born — 18 September 1984 • Birthplace — Longview, Texas, U.S. • Education — St. Edward's University (BA) • Occupation — Fashion designer, television personality, director, photographer • Awards — * CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear (2016) • CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year (2019) • Years Active — 2009–present Brandon Maxwell (born September 18, 1984) is an American fashion designer, television personality, director, and photographer. He is the founder and creative director of Brandon Maxwell, the luxury women's ready-to-wear label. Maxwell began his career as a fashion stylist and became Lady Gaga's fashion director in 2012 before launching his own label in 2015. He received the CFDA Swarovski Award for Womenswear in 2016 and was named Womenswear Designer of the Year at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards. Maxwell was a judge on Project Runway from 2019 to 2023, and since 2021 has been creative director of the Walmart apparel brands Free Assembly and Scoop.

Maxwell was born in Longview, Texas. Maxwell's grandmother, Louise Johnson, was a buyer for a boutique in Longview, and he was introduced to design there at an early age. Growing up, Maxwell would put together outfits and photograph his friends wearing them. For high school, he attended Trinity School of Texas in Longview. In 2002, he moved to New York City to study painting at Marymount Manhattan College before graduating from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. Maxwell graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in photocommunications. After graduating, Maxwell returned to New York City to begin working.

Prior to launching his eponymous womenswear label, Maxwell entered the fashion industry as a stylist. He began assisting Deborah Afshani in 2009, and afterwards worked with Edward Enninful before taking a job with Nicola Formichetti in 2010, through whom he was introduced to Lady Gaga, then Formichetti's client. In 2012, Maxwell took on the role of Lady Gaga's fashion director. Maxwell has styled for magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, V, Teen Vogue, and Porter. He has done ad campaigns for Barneys New York and Uniqlo. The Hollywood Reporter ranked him 13th on its 2016 list of the 25 most powerful stylists in Hollywood. Maxwell has collaborated with photographers such as Mario Testino, Inez & Vinoodh, Paola Kudacki, Giampaolo Sgura, Terry Richardson, and Steven Klein.

In 2015, Maxwell debuted his women's ready-to-wear label, Brandon Maxwell, in New York at Mr. Chow. With a focus on craftsmanship, the entire collection is designed in New York City. Maxwell crafted these garments by draping, rather than sketching, to ensure an ideal fit. In August 2016, Michelle Obama wore an ivory Brandon Maxwell gown to the White House state dinner for Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. Maxwell revealed his spring 2019 collection, inspired by his fascination with cowboy culture and picturesque landscapes of the American Southwest. Maxwell generated the highest earned media value during New York Fashion Week the week following his show, ahead of Ralph Lauren and Tom Ford. During a 2018 residency in Marfa, Texas, Maxwell designed a collection conceived as an homage to the state and arranged a corporate donation of educational resources to local schools. Maxwell showed his fall 2019 collection in New York in February 2019 before an audience of about 200. Pared back after the previous season, it worked in black and white with accents of pink, red, apple green and powder blue, brought sportswear cues such as racer-back shapes and zipper details into his tailoring, and closed with a full-skirted pink gown. Maxwell designed the fuchsia gown that Lady Gaga, one of the event's co-hosts, wore on arrival at the 2019 Met Gala; she changed into three further looks on the carpet. Maxwell's clients have included Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle and Karlie Kloss, along with Oprah Winfrey, Blake Lively and Queen Rania of Jordan; the label is sold by upscale retailers internationally. Maxwell's label marked its tenth anniversary in 2025. Showing his fall 2025 collection that February, he worked with menswear-inspired shirting, tool-belted trousers and leather outerwear, and described the aim as pushing American sportswear forward on his own terms. That August he released his first home collection, a collaboration with Pottery Barn spanning bedding, tableware, lighting and upholstery. The following month he staged an anniversary show in New York for his spring 2026 collection.

Maxwell has appeared as a judge on the 2019 re-launch of Project Runway on Bravo TV. He judged four seasons, remaining on the panel with Nina García and Elaine Welteroth through the all-stars twentieth season, which premiered in June 2023. When the series moved to Freeform for its twenty-first season, it was announced with a new host and a new panel of judges.

In 2021, Maxwell was named Creative Director for two "elevated" fashion brands for Walmart. In this role, Maxwell oversees four seasonal collections annually for the labels Free Assembly and Scoop. He was the first creative director appointed for either label and was also given a role in their marketing campaigns, shaping Walmart's 2021 holiday range before his first full collections arrived in spring 2022; Free Assembly had launched in September 2020, while Scoop was a defunct boutique brand that Walmart revived in 2019. He was still in the role in November 2025, when he marked nearly five years at the two labels. In September 2025 the brands staged a New York Fashion Week pop-up shop in Manhattan.