Narciso Rodriguez

Narciso Rodriguez
Personal Information
Name	Narciso Rodriguez
Nationality	USA
Birth date	1961
Birth place
Education	Parsons The New School for Design
Working Life
Label Name	Narciso Rodriguez
Awards and Prizes	CFDA best designer, 2004, 2005

Narciso Rodriguez (born 1961) is a Cuban-American fashion designer. He is the son of a longshoreman.

Life and career

Rodriguez realized at a young age that he was gay and would become a professional designer. His father did not approve of that decision because he wanted Rodriguez to become a doctor. Rodriguez persisted, however, and, eventually, he found a job as a designer with the Cerruti label, in Paris, France.

Rodriguez went on to work for Donna Karan and Calvin Klein in their respective brands. He was Klein's assistant designer. In September of 1996, Rodriguez began to obtain international fame when Carolyn Bessette asked him to design the wedding dress she used when she married John F. Kennedy, Jr.

In 1998, Rodriguez inaugurated his own label, the "Narciso Rodriguez" brand, with assistance from Massimo Ferretti, the owner of Moschino and Alberta Ferretti.

Six years later, Rodriguez won his first Council of Fashion Designers of America best designer award, and he repeated as winner of the award in 2005, becoming the first American to win that award two years in a row. On August 13, 2005, Time published an article about Rodriguez.

The following year, however, problems developed between Rodriguez and Ferretti that ended their relationship. His contract stipulated that only Ferretti could make accessories with the Rodriguez label, but Ferretti showed little interest making any(according to Ferretti, it accounted for only 3-4% of the label's sales). By October 2006 he was over $1 million in debt to his suppliers, was having trouble meeting his payroll and needed fabric donations from Karan and others to make enough clothes for his spring show.

Believing Ferretti was not involved enough in his business, he began looking for a new partner, telling Ferretti he would declare bankruptcy if necessary to get out of the contract. He called Vogue editor Anna Wintour and asked for her help brokering a new deal with another investor. She referred him to an executive at Liz Claiborne, and Ralph Lauren and Karan also began making inquiries on his behalf. Eventually, in spring 2007, Claiborne chief executive Bill McComb saw potential in Rodriguez's label and bought his company for $12 million, the first time in American fashion history that a mainstream clothier had bought a niche luxury brand.

Rodriguez has also developed a popular women's perfume in collaboration with Shiseido's Beaute Prestige International unit. The fragrance, named "For Her", also has a line of bathing products, such as body milk and cremes. BPI will soon introduce a Narciso Rodriguez men's fragrance named "For Him", which will launch worldwide in July 2007.