Narciso Rodriguez

Photo Credit: www.zimbio.com

One of the premiere designers in the world today is Narciso Rodriguez. Initially, all you need to know about him and how he’s viewed by others is that he designed the wedding dress Carolyn Bessette wore in 1996 when she married John Kennedy, Jr, created the dress Michelle Obama wore the night of her husband’s being elected president, and will be designing the wedding dress for Claire Danes for her wedding.

Rodriguez was born in New Jersey in 1961 to Cuban parents. He knew early that he wanted to be a designer, though his parents disapproved. He went to the Parsons School of Design in New York City, graduating in 1982. He worked as a freelance designer for awhile until hooking up with Anne Klein as women’s design director, reporting to Donna Karan. He went to work for Calvin Klein in 1991 as a design assistant. In 1996, he moved to Cerruti Paris as the women’s design director, but already had plans for his own designer line, which he launched in 1997.

After he launched his own designer product, he won two awards. He was named the Designer of the Year by the Hispanic Society and Best New Designer at the VH1 Fashion Awards in 1997. This was also after he’d designed the wedding dress for Carolyn Bessette, which whom he was a good friend. In 1998 he won the Perry Ellis Award for best new women’s wear designer from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. He also won the Womenswear Designer of the Year award two years in a row, in 2004 and 2005, by the same council.

Unfortunately, because of some bad investments, including starting a line of perfumes, and the downturn of the economy, he had to sell 50% interest to Liz Clairborne in his designer clothes. Still, he puts out his yearly designs in many areas, including wedding dresses.

He’s one of those designers who puts out designs that are either loved or hated by the critics. There seems to be no in between for him, which seems to suit him just fine. He likes to push the boundaries between traditional and modern designs, and some of his designs are considered edgy. He’s been known to create short designer wedding dresses with long, see through mesh netting going to the ground to complete the look. He also loves dresses that shimmer, and isn’t afraid to go with reflective materials to help show off the brides that wear his designs. He’s also not afraid to go against type and add stitching of different colors than the rest of the wedding gowns.

If you’re looking for something modern that might push traditional boundaries, Narciso Rodriguez just might be the designer for you.

See more:
Narciso Rodriguez Bio
Narciso Rodriguez Online
Wikipedia – Narciso Rodriguez