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Tahari's post-disco designs helped popularize what's known as the bridge category--less expensive career-based clothing--in the early 1980s. Then, responding to the demand for trendier, more comfortable clothing, he started Theory in 1997 with former Anne Klein executive Andrew Rosen. The idea was to base a whole contemporary collection around stretch fabrics, particularly pants. Tahari sold his Theory stake for $53 million in 2003 (He is now suing Rosen for $182 million claiming "fraudulent self-dealing." Rosen calls the suit "a fantasy ... created in total disregard of the facts") and in 2004 made an unsuccessful bid to buy Barneys, the fashion department store. "It was a bitter battle," Rory says. "He really wanted that. Most people think of Elie as a wholesaler, but he's really a retailer at heart."
Despite some of those more contentious dealings, Tahari describes himself as a shy, spiritual man (he practices feng shui and follows the teachings of philosopher Eric Butterworth). You won't see him taking a bow on the runway or featuring his homes in magazines (although he could: he recently bought News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch's 9,300-sq.-ft. SoHo triplex for a reported $25 million). "My life is my work and vice versa," he says. "I told my wife that when we got married, she had to be involved with my work or we couldn't be together."
It's a deal. Since they married in March 2000, the Taharis have updated the label with plans to turn it into their version of a luxury brand--Rory calls it "Modern Luxury." For fall 2006, Tahari introduced shoes, handbags and menswear. Tahari says he is not abandoning the bridge business. Yet prices for some accessories such as handbags run as high as the $2,800 range. The goal is to make Elie Tahari into a $1 billion business in the next five years. Most brands move down the price curve to expand, not up. "Nothing Elie does is industry standard practice," says Rory. "He has always been ahead of the wave, not riding it."