Narciso Rodriguez was born in New Jersey in 1961 to Cubanparents. He studied at Parsons School of Design in New York, andupon graduation worked for designers such as Anne Klein, TSE,and Calvin Klein. His parents were not overly happy that Narcisochoose fashion as his career. They would have much rather seenhim in something more serious such as architecture.
Whether on the runway or on the red carpet, designer NarcisoRodriguez is in demand. He began is designer career in 1985 as adesign assistant for fashion legend Anne Klein. Narciso has agift for fitting a dress so that it is flattering to the shapeof the woman’s body. “It’s so fantastic,” Narciso says, “tocreate a frame for a woman’s personality and her true beauty.”
While working at Calvin Klein Narciso and Carolyn Bessette[later to become Carolyn Kennedy] became best friends. It wasCarolyn Bessette Kennedy’s wedding dress design that broughtNarciso front and center stage in the design world. Narciso’swedding dress design for Carolyn was the buzz around the world.On September 21, 1996, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy stepped out ofchurch on the arm of John F. Kennedy Jr. Women went gaga,literally drooling over Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s weddingdress.
Carolyn’s wedding dress was made from pure white silk. Thissimple dress was combined dress elegance, classiness, andsexiness into one knockout package. Woman began to realize awedding dress could in fact look sexy. This was a whole newconcept, never heard of before. For years most women had landedup looking like an overstuffed pilsbury dough boy on theirwedding day. Narciso had accomplished in Carolyn’s wedding gownwhat women thought to be impossible. She had been transformedinto this bewitching sexy princess. That look was created by oneof her best friends, Narciso Rodriguez. It was Carolyn’s weddingdress that made Narciso’s a household name.
Once word got out who had designed the dress, Narciso was indemand by every major designer in the world. A dream came truewhen Narciso joined the house of LMVH. The draw back to thiscareer move was that Narciso spent his life living out of asuitcase with very little time to spend with family and friendswhich he valued and missed dearly. Narciso pressed on encouragedby the idea that he had finally “made it.” However, working fora large company can often stifle ones own independent designideas, and it wasn’t long before Narciso discovered he no longerloved his work. The turning point in his life was when CarolynBessette Kennedy was was killed in a plane accident. Narciso hadlost one of his dearest and best friends and for him this was areality check and a wake up call.. Life without friends, familyand the love of his work didn’t seem like such a greatopportunity anymore. Narciso left LVMH and came home realizingwhat he needed was the freedom of his own design collection.Narciso was able to focus on his own line of clothing creatingthe perfect look for woman. Rather than designing dresses formatchsticks, Narciso’s designs accentuated the curves andbustline of the woman, creating what was called a real womandesign. Narciso Latin background came through in his designswith each having a hint of Latin flare. Narciso said Latinowomen had figures and were proud of that fact so they wereperfect for where he wanted to go with his designs. Narcisotalents as a designer were so good, he was even able to make thepetite woman look voluptuous. Sarah Jessica Parker, Sheryl Crowand Salma Hayek all wore exquisite gowns designed by Narciso.Not one of these celebs was 6 feet tall, yet the fit of thesegowns was to die for. In the spring of 1998 Narciso debuted hisready to wear signature collection in Milan. It made it intovirtually every major fashion magazine. Rodriguez’s Americanexperience and Latin roots, combined with his flair for Europeantradition of fine design, are all part of his great success. In1997 Narciso won Best New Designer from the VH1 Fashion Awards,and was awarded Hispanic Designer of the Year. In 1998 he wonthe CFDA Perry Ellis Award, In the past these honors have goneto designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera. Inthe past two years Rodriguez has been with the CFDA Awards: Inboth 2002 and 2003 he won the Womenswear Designer of the Year.
In a more recent issue of O Magazine Oprah Winfrey standsproudly wearing a golden dress designed by non other thanNarciso. Now believe it or not this dress just isn’t gold incolor, it is made of gold metal that has been pressed to make adress fabric. The dress can be seein in O Magazine as well as atoprah.com.
Narciso is like a breath of fresh air when it comes to woman’sfashion. He designs for real woman. If you are interested inNarciso Rodrigues and his designs visit his web page at
http://www.narcisorodriguez.com/narciso
