Derek Lam is an American fashion designer, born in San Francisco in 1967 to a fourth-generation Chinese American family; his grandparents ran a San Francisco garment factory specialising in bridal and wedding dresses, and his parents imported clothes from Asia. He graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York in 1990.
He worked for Michael Kors for four years as an assistant, spent time in Hong Kong with a large retail brand, and returned to New York as vice-president of design for Kors' Kors line. In 2003 he launched his own label, showing at New York Fashion Week that September. In 2005 he was runner-up in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and won the CFDA Perry Ellis Swarovski Award for new womenswear designers, and in 2007 he was named accessory designer of the year. The label added shoes, handbags and eyewear, opened a SANAA-designed store in 2009, and in 2011 launched the diffusion line Derek Lam 10 Crosby.
In 2006 Diego Della Valle signed him to create a clothing line for Tod's as creative director of ready-to-wear and accessories. He presented the brand's first jewellery collection in 2008, Tod's extended his contract in 2010 for two more years, and in 2012 it announced that he would leave at the end of his contract that September.
In 2019 he closed his main collection to focus on 10 Crosby, then 70% of the business, and in January 2020 Public Clothing Company bought the Derek Lam brand, with Lam staying on as chief creative officer until 2023. In 2024 he became creative director of the Italian brand Câllas Milano. He moved to Paris with his husband and business partner Jan-Hendrik Schlottmann in 2023, and in September 2026, after NYC Alliance bought Derek Lam 10 Crosby, he returned to it as creative director, with his first collection due for fall 2027.
English Wikipedia's summary dates his Tod's role 2005 to 2010, while its detailed text and Casadi's record give 2006 to 2012.