Narciso Rodriguez has scaled the heights of fashion as one of the most successful designers of his generation. While working for Calvin Klein in 1996, he made one of the most iconic designs in history, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s wedding gown. After launching his namesake label, he designed another — Michelle Obama’s 2008 election night shift dress with red fireworks-like embroidery worn onstage in Chicago to join her husband, Barack Obama, as president for the first time.
In between, he worked as creative director of a European luxury brand, Loewe, and launched a fragrance business with Shiseido that’s still going gangbusters, all while carrying forth values he learned from His Cuban family while growing up in Newark, N.J.
“I was surrounded by these very dynamic, gorgeous women who were strong and pioneers in their own way. So many of them left Cuba without speaking the language and built lives and careers, and it was very inspiring to me. I was given this gift and this love and admiration for women,” he said.
While his style is “definitely not red and ruffled,” it is empowering and celebratory. “That may be hard to understand when you see my work is architectural and clean.…But I think it comes from no-nonsense and strength and was born of my Latin roots,” he said.
After growing up in a diverse neighborhood during his early years, his parents moved to the suburbs in the 1970s, and Rodriguez remembers feeling different for the first time.
“We were the only Latin family in the neighborhood, maybe in the town, and it was difficult. I remember our home being constantly egged, and our cars, and as a child to see that kind of singling out.…I mean, it was a very different time.”
It was night and day from New York City, where he moved to attend Parsons in the 1980s. Once again in a multicultural environment, he relished getting to work with some of his heroes.
“I got to do projects with Oscar de la Renta and meet the man and hear about his trajectory — and at that time, he was the person,” said Rodriguez of the late American designer from the Dominican Republic. “You know, he celebrated his culture and his history with his work, but celebrated women also…so to have him see my my sketches and talk to me about fabrics was such a thrill.”
Through his long career, Rodriguez said he’s never felt held back by where he came from. “There’s really never been a hurdle or a boundary or a job that I couldn’t get because of my heritage.…And I have celebrated it my entire career, I’ve never hidden it. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t.”
He believes his heritage may have been an asset when he was hired in 1997 as the women’s ready-to-wear designer at Loewe, the Madrid-based leather house owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. “LVMH saw a great opportunity they had…and I had an incredible experience there. Having been raised also in a very Spanish community, I knew these people. These people were the people that I went to church with and had breakfast with on Sundays.…So it was a little bit of a homecoming for me. I appreciate what I was able to do there and if that opportunity came to me because my name was Rodriguez, and Yves Carcelle said, ‘Spain, Rodriguez, here we go,’ great.”
Sometimes misconceptions about Hispanic designers come from within the community, he said.
“I remember taking a collection early on to South America for a charity event, and it was one of my more clean collections of cotton khaki and silver thread work, and much more subdued suede and neutrals,” said Rodriguez. “And the press was a little bit angry. After the show, they were like, ‘How could you call yourself a Latin designer? Where are the ruffles? Where’s the color? I was surprised, because I was having a different kind of career, and I had never been posed questions like that before. But again, I think today, young Latin designers would never be asked a question like that.”
For Hispanic creatives now, there are no rules, he said.
“Certainly in Willy Chavarria‘s case, he makes a strong statement with [his heritage] and I have great admiration for what he does, because he’s celebrating his culture and his experience in this country the same way that I am free to celebrate women. It’s finding your own path, right?”
Rodriguez, 63, closed his clothing label during COVID-19, but continued to work with private clients. Now, he’s in the midst of a relaunch of his label, albeit on a smaller scale.
“I consider what came before my first act, and I’m about to embark on my second act. I feel very excited to get to work again.”