Biography of Elsa Klensch

CNN Style Editor Elsa Klensch produces and anchors Style With Elsa Klensch, five daily segments on the world of fashion, beauty and decorating on CNN/U.S., as well as a half-hour program that airs each weekend on CNN/U.S. and CNN International. Klensch created Style in 1980 as one of the original CNN news features programs and the first regularly scheduled U.S. network television program reporting exclusively on design. Style's worldwide popularity has established Klensch as the preeminent TV fashion journalist.

Based in New York, Klensch travels around the world, spending three months of the year reporting from the fashion capitals of Paris, Milan, Tokyo, London, Madrid and Rome. She also has covered fashion, beauty and design in Sydney, Moscow, Beijing, Manila, Rio de Janeiro, Bali and Havana. Klensch's subjects range from the sportswear of Tommy Hilfiger and the classic fashions of Ralph Lauren, to the avant-garde designs of Jean-Paul Gaultier and the trend-setting styles of Japanese designers such as Yohji Yamamoto. Klensch also profiles the world's top models and covers developments in interior design. Her straightforward reports have earned the respect of the global fashion and design communities, as well as millions of style-conscious viewers.

Before joining CNN's launch team in the spring of 1980, Klensch served as a fashion reporter and editor at Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Wear Daily and W. Born in Western Australia, Klensch also worked as a journalist in Sydney, Australia; London and Hong Kong before moving to New York City. Klensch's book, Style, was a trade paperback best-seller.

Klensch has received many awards during her career. In 1996, The Fashion Group International awarded Klensch its Superstar Award, and, in 1995, the Anti-Defamation League presented her with the Woman of Achievement Award. Klensch received an honorary doctorate of fine arts in 1990 from the International Fine Arts College in Miami, citing her "outstanding contribution to the international fashion, style, design and beauty communities ... and for her continuing inspiration" for students majoring in graphics, interior and fashion design, and fashion marketing. In 1988, the Italian Government conferred upon her the Order of Merit for "distinguished reporting on Italian design, craftsmanship and style."

The Council of Fashion Designers of America honored Klensch in 1987 with an award for "consistently bringing international fashion to the largest audience in the history of television and for consistently getting the story first and getting it right." She also has been honored by the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the Italian fashion industry association and the Philippine Cabinet Ladies Foundation.

She has lectured for the Chicago Historical Society, the Costume Institute of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the San Diego Historical Society. She was elected to the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1990. Klensch played herself in a cameo role in Robert Altman's 1994 film Pret-a-Porter, a stylish comedy set in Paris during the ready-to-wear collection showings.