History
Narciso Rodriguez was raised in Newark, New Jersey. He received his formal education at Parson’s School of Design in New York. Following freelance work in New York’s garment industry, he joined Anne Klein under Donna Karan. Later, he moved to Calvin Klein where he worked on the Women’s Collection.
In 1995, Rodriguez became Design Director of TSE where he presented the first ready to wear collections for men and women in New York. Simultaneously, Rodriguez was appointed Design Director of Cerruti in Paris. In October 1997, the first women’s ready to wear collection under the Narciso Rodriguez label, in partnership with Italian manufacturer AEFFE, was presented in Milan for the Spring/Summer 1998 season. Rodriguez was awarded “Best New Designer” at the Vogue/VH1 Fashion Awards in New York and the “Perry Ellis Award” for best new designer by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. The same year, Loewe appointed Rodriguez as Design Director of the women’s ready to wear collection, a position he held until 2001.
Rodriguez established his atelier in New York in 2001 and presented his Fall/Winter ready to wear collection that year. Subsequently, he became the first designer ever to receive consecutive Womenswear Designer of the Year awards by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, Time Magazine honored the designer by naming him one of the “25 Most Influential Hispanics in America” while two years later, he received the Fashion Icon Award from Pratt Institute. In 2008, Narciso Rodriguez, a book devoted to the designer and his process, was published by Rizzoli to critical acclaim. Rodriguez was also honored for Special Achievement in Fashion by ALMA (the American Latino Media Arts Awards) in 2008. In 2009, he was again nominated for the CFDA’s Womenswear Designer of the Year award. In 2010, the designer won the title of Mercedes-Benz Presents designer, winning the sponsorship of Mercedes-Benz. The same year, Rodriguez was among the Cultural Leaders of 2010 selected by USA Network and Vanity Fair magazine.
In collaboration with Beauté Prestige International, Rodriguez created his first fragrance, for her, in 2003, which received the British FiFi Award for Best New Fragrance that year and the Fragrance of the Year/Women’s Noveau Niche award in 2004. Narciso Rodriguez’s men’s fragrance, for him, was launched in 2007 and received the 2008 Grand Prix du Parfum Award for Best Masculine Fragrance and Best Design. essence, Rodriguez’s third fragrance was launched in 2009. In less than a decade, the for her collection, essence and for him collection have become innovative classics and modern icons in the fragrance industry.
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