Mother, muse and former brand ambassador of design- er Michael Kors. Joan Kors, 84, died peacefully of heart failure at her home in Los Angeles on August 5, 2023. According to reports, a private funeral and burial will be held for her in Los Angeles. Known for her impeccable style and fashion, Joan was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on Long Island, where she graduated from Farmingdale High School. She started modeling at the age of 18 in both print advertising and runway shows. She later became a house model at the House of Revlon in New York City. She stopped modeling in the early 1960s to become a stay-at-home mother and homemaker. She also worked as an executive assistant at a law firm in New York through much of the 1970s. She moved to Los Angeles in 1977 to begin a new career in the home textiles industry, joining her father, Austin Hamburger, a long- time veteran in the home textile world.
In the early 1980s, she started her own firm, designing and manufacturing a variety of decorative pillows, placemats and napkins. Her home textile collection was called At Home with Joan Kors. She exited the home textile world in the early 1990s to join her son, Michael Kors, at his fashion firm as the West Coast brand ambassador. Joan was an animal lover and supporter of human rights.
