Narciso Rodriguez

The two-time winner of the Best Designer of the Year Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and hailed as the king of minimalism, Narciso Rodriguez is poised to take his place in the pantheon of great American designers. As Anna Wintour put it, "No one but Narciso has ever made a simple line look more stunning." Like the famously copied wedding dress he made for Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Rodriguez’s designs are revered for their exquisite tailoring but also for being wearable. His exceptionally varied and loyal following—from Salma Hayek and Sarah Jessica Parker, to Oprah Winfrey and the late Celia Cruz—is a testament to his success. This elegant volume reveals the artist at work in his atelier. Rodriguez takes his inspiration from the life that surrounds him—whether it’s the subtle color of faded paint on a façade, a pattern made by the sand, or the gesture of a young man on a skateboard—and records it in sketchbooks and vivid snapshots. Always experimenting with new textiles and textures, he creates deceptively simple montages—artworks in their own right—that gracefully yield the stunning dresses we see flowing down the runway.

Narciso Rodriguez is a foremost American designer, the first to receive the CFDA "Womenswear Designer of the Year" award for two consecutive years. Betsy Berne is the author of Bad Timing and has written for The New Yorker, Vogue, and The New York Times Magazine, among other publications.