Narciso Rodriguez (Q1961)
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American fashion house
- Narciso Rodriguez LLC
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Narciso Rodriguez |
American fashion house |
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Statements
2005
creative director
designer
2004
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Pragmatic. In the not so distant past, it was rarely uttered in fashion circles, but it comes up a whole lot more now. The pressure of climate change, the reordering of retail, and women’s own shifting priorities have led designers to rethink their approaches. Narciso Rodriguez opted out of fashion week last year. His elegant, elevating presence is missed in New York, which is short on true grown-ups, but the switch has allowed him to focus on the real arbiters: his customers.So, yes, he was speaking along pragmatic lines at a showroom appointment this morning, pointing out that his new cape is an elaboration on a short-sleeve coat that “everybody wanted immediately” when he made it last season. The silhouettes aren’t the same, but the sensibilities are. “This is the way to do it,” he said, “practical, well-made clothes that stand out due to color, cut, and material.”The confidence of Rodriguez’s line has always been his strong suit. Nobody makes a better form-fitting dress. This season, two in particular are worthy of mention. The first is the backbone of his business: a sleeveless sheath made special by a leather bodice, exposed seams, and strategically placed gaps in those seams. The second is a black lace long-sleeve, floor-length number. It’s a real occasion dress and so sleek and sexy in its understatement that his girl may be inclined to cook up an event just to wear it.
12 December 2019
Discussing his new collection, Narciso Rodriguez said, “the work becomes the decorative element.” His idea for Spring was to expose the construction details of his meticulously made clothes on the outside of the garments. He called it, “going back to the drawing board.”As instincts go, it was quite telling. Clicking through the collections this season, a pattern emerges: There’s a lot of ornament for ornamentation sake. At some labels—not all—it begins to look like the quest for something new produced a result that’s merely extra, not an improvement on what came before. Overcomplicated is another way to put it. And now that our excesses are coming back to haunt us in the form of global warming, well, one can appreciate Rodriguez’s efforts to streamline.In practice, this meant that the geometric seaming details of his sheaths were piped in contrast colors; ditto for the shirtdresses with contrast top stitching. As decorative elements go, they were subtle in the extreme. The other conceits he worked with this season were draping and knotting; these produced the collection’s more sensual pieces, not least of all because, as he explained, he was using haute couture techniques, only without the stiff, old-fashioned undergirding. Of course, without the undergirding, they’ll be more demanding to wear for non-supermodel bodies. There was also a white cotton sundress splashed with a watercolor floral arrangement at the midriff that was lovely for its simplicity.
6 June 2019
If Narciso Rodriguez has one identifying signature it’s his body-limning fit. From Carolyn Bessette’s wedding dress to the charcoal sheath Kate Moss wore in Cannes to any and all of the red carpet numbers he’s designed for the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Julianna Margulies, Rodriguez’s creations are rigorously engineered to enhance, even when they look quite effortless.Something was different about his Pre-Fall collection today.Rodriguez has new twins, and he’s been making clothes for his little girl, the insouciant, away-from-the-body shapes and humble cotton poplins of which, he explained, were influencing his thinking about his collection. They say a baby changes everything. The relaxed, loose shapes were certainly something new for Rodriguez, though they retained an on-brand urbane sensibility paired as they were with tapering, split-seam trousers and spiked heels. His babies were in attendance at the show.Rodriguez claimed Cristóbal Balenciaga as his other muse. A summertime wedding in the north of Spain included a side trip to the legendary couturier’s museum, and indeed, a subtle Balenciaga influence came through in a peplumed top in black wool twill and a sturdy green cotton tunic, both worn with the season’s leg-elongating split-seam pants.Though Rodriguez seemed most interested in breezy dresses this season—which makes sense given the June time frame when these clothes arrive in stores—the most interesting development involved his tailoring. It, too, has tended to be defined by its rigor in the past, but here there was an appealing slouch to his jackets, conveyed by an en extended, slightly padded shoulder, a just-so-slightly nipped waist, and an elongated length. Those cool shoulders were the sartorial equivalent of the dresses’ high, floating waists: relaxed and easy.
4 December 2018
Tonight, Narciso Rodriguez will pick up the CFDA’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award. Clothes-wise, the impulse might’ve been to do a taking stock collection of greatest hits. Rodriguez rejected that idea backstage, instead, he said this: “The passage of time has made me even more aware of the things that are mine.” There’s a cool confidence in that statement which was reflected on the runway. Rodriguez has nothing to prove, and he’s not chasing after trends or out to woo millennial It girls. These 21 looks were made for grown-up women who, like Rodriguez, appreciate cut and drape and material. And a bracingly high stiletto shoe.As is typical for Rodriguez, he addressed a full wardrobe, from office-appropriate tailoring (this season it was a skirt suit in a ripe shade of olive green) to cocktail attire (mostly separates featuring graphic, three-dimensional embroidery). Rodriguez is a virtuoso patternmaker, and, as if to prove the point, he showed two dresses side by side, one with what he described as “just three seams” and the other with “200.” Novelty came in fabrication, including a raw denim with a casual cool mien; there was an ease to the jeans and trench and jacket he tailored from that denim that not even the models’ spiky pumps could distract from.With regards to that notion of ease, Rodriguez has shifted to a June-December presentation schedule, which has typically been when the industry shows its pre-season collections. “It’s right for the times and the business, and it’s definitely right for my personal life,” he said. The designer and his partner welcomed baby twins last year, and moving his show up by three months means he gets to have a proper August holiday with them. But first, his big moment at the Brooklyn Museum on the CFDA stage this evening.
5 June 2018
Last week, Narciso Rodriguez marked his label’s 20th anniversary with a dinner party at Barneys, which is selling an exclusive collection of dresses modeled on his biggest commercial hits. To see those archival dresses made new on mannequins and on a small group of statuesque young models was to be reminded of the rigor and precision of his craft. Rodriguez’s LBDs are aerodynamically sexy and utterly without excess. Perhaps because of that exercise, or maybe because he has 8-month-old twins at home, he was after an easier attitude for his compact, colorful Fall 2018 collection.The 17 looks he showed to the 22 audience members at his headquarters this morning were notable for their rounded sleeves, loose ankle-tapering trouser silhouettes, and waists not cinched but gently belted. Many of the outfits were layered over a fitted mock turtleneck, striking a reality chic note. This was all in contrast to the last time he was on the runway for Fall 2017, when we saw provocative ladder cut-outs on the chest and sexy flashes of the high upper thigh. Rodriguez’s change-up feels in tune with the general mood and fashion direction of the moment. We’ve all heard plenty about athleisure these last couple of years. There were no actual tracksuits or sweats or exercise leggings here. That’d be a bridge too far; still, it would be interesting to see how Rodriguez approaches materials where a sense of ease is built in, beyond a few compelling cashmere sweaters.Ultimately, the collection’s winningest piece was the most formal. In pink crepe, his asymmetrically cut balloon dress was designed to float around the body: relaxed, but with a sense of occasion.
7 February 2018
Narciso Rodriguez’s twins are 3 months old, but new fatherhood is just one of the reasons he opted for a showroom appointment over a full-scale fashion show this season. Though he’s not naming names, Rodriguez has begun to feel that New York Fashion Week is turning into Celebrity Fashion Week. It’s hard for a designer who takes clothes-making seriously to stand out amidst the Instagram brouhaha.And Rodriguez does takes clothes-making very seriously—bless him for that. There isn’t a designer here or in Europe as exacting or consistent. Consider this: Twenty years ago when he began his independent label, he introduced something he called “the new suit,” which replaced a standard issue jacket with a top that zipped up in back. For Spring ‘18, he’s resurrected it, and it looks smartly relevant—precise and pulled-together, but not as strict as a blazer. Much has been written about the return of tailoring, but the reality is, it’s hard to get back into a traditional jacket after the comfort of knits. Speaking of, Rodriguez has a pair of slinky knit dresses in black and white with openwork stitches that show flashes of skin and special sweaters to work back to the high-waisted, pleated woolen trousers that are the foundation of the collection. But the pieces that demonstrate his famous exacting workmanship are the ones worth expounding on here: a harness-top sheath in a spicy shade of pimento with a sliver cutout at the solar plexus and a bare T-back in black, and an attenuated jumpsuit with a deep U-front.Discussing an evening dress stitched on its bodice with tiny lozenges, Rodriguez recalled the experiments with different-size beads and the trials and errors of creating different embroidery patterns. He’s never been afraid to do the hard work, and therein lies his appeal.
6 September 2017
Backstage before his show,Narciso Rodrigueztold a story about the late Oscar de la Renta. “Oscar once said, ‘You know, it’s not fashion until a woman wears it.’ That’s so true.” Rodriguez was making a larger point about our sobering times. In this environment, he argued, there’s just no room for silly, superfluous clothes. That has never, ever been Rodriguez’s issue. What you see on his runway is what you get online and in department stores.Nonetheless, the chaotic state of the world has had the effect of sharpening his focus. This collection felt more vital than Rodriguez’s recent outings, with clothes that had what he called a “covet factor.” A black jumpsuit with ladder cutouts on the chest and an iris silk slip dress with black gauze tracing the armholes numbered among the singular pieces you won’t find anywhere else in New York. No one can match Rodriguez’s disciplined precision.But this collection wasn’t so rigorous as to be alienating. The best look—it also happened to be Rodriguez’s favorite—was a black top with cape-like split sleeves that extended almost to the hem of a side-slit white skirt. Dramatic, but a joy to wear. Elsewhere, Rodriguez’s trademark-engineered seam tailoring underwent some big seasonal tweaks. Pants were cut with ease and cropped well above the ankle, and he preferred showing them with a longer coat or a super-fine-gauged, shin-grazing cardigan. The show’s barely-there shades of mint and yellow felt fresh; gray flannel pants and the coppery hue of suede ankle boots had us wondering if we could recreate the look with what’s already in our closet.
15 February 2017
Narciso Rodriguez was invited to design costumes for New York City Ballet’s fall gala. The project coincided with the early stages of Pre-Fall development, and working on the former influenced the latter, he explained at a showroom appointment today. Rodriguez had pictures of the ballerinas to show off, and making the connection between their costumes and his new collection was easy. A leotard color-blocked black and blush pink was transformed into one of his signature sleeveless sheaths—the graphic blocking having the same body-whittling effect on the dancer as it did on the model in the lookbook.That leotard suggests he’d make a terrific swimwear designer if he ever put his mind to it. But this collection was about working women’s wardrobes, as most Rodriguez collections are. There were the aforementioned power sheaths and an appealing looser-fit dress with a drapey silhouette harnessed by a belted waist. There were new takes on the power suit; Rodriguez paired high-rise, slightly flared trousers with a bubble jacket in double-face cashmere or a popover top (silly name for a sophisticated shape). And because work doesn’t really end when the clock chimes 6:00 for Rodriguez’s clients, there was a wide array of cocktail and dinner dresses (one with a keyhole cutout at the neckline is the designer’s personal favorite), as well as alternative black-tie options. The red carpet may be the last bastion of floor-length dresses. He had a few of those for the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Amy Schumer, and Julianna Margulies. For everybody else looking for special-occasion clothes, his short-in-front/long-in-back top and high-waisted flares are the modern option.
2 December 2016
One of Narciso Rodriguez’s preoccupations this season was exposing the inner construction of his garments. The seams he used to engineer the body-conscious shapes of cocktail dresses and reversible coats were piped (sometimes in contrasting colors), accentuating the clothes’ workmanship. Few other New York designers could get away with it. Indeed, few would make the choice. In this moment of Instagram-, celebrity-, and streetwear-driven fashion, Rodriguez has become an outlier, devoted to his craft, of course, but devoted to his customer as well, in that what he’s making is seasonless, luxurious pieces designed to build on what’s already in her wardrobe.Beyond this idea of showcasing the inner workings of items, Rodriguez returned to a project he highlighted last season: reimagining the suit. That doesn’t mean there were a lot of jackets here; in fact, there weren’t. Rather, he came up with alternative ways to create that pulled-together attitude, mostly with asymmetrical bias-draped and tailored tops. These ranged from subtle (i.e., in the same gray tropical wool as the trousers paired with it) to extravagant (i.e., one-shouldered, cape-backed white silk worn with black tuxedo pants). The latter would make a compelling black-tie alternative. But Rodriguez didn’t ignore more traditional after-dark fare. A deep-emerald-green tank gown embellished with large paillettes was cut athletically, almost like a bathing suit, while a V-neck gown in a collage print (of flowers and baubles) exuded a sense of whimsy that felt out of the ordinary for this designer. Credit for that might go to his 6-month-old twins, or to the fact that he’s simply doing what he loves, far removed from the celeb- and Instagram-fueled fray.
4 December 2017
Diametrically opposed forces are at work in Narciso Rodriguez’s Resort collection. Looking at couture references led him to round, sculptural shapes, as seen in the full, blossoming skirt of a polished cotton-nylon frock. On the other hand, a streamlined bra top and the graphic cut-outs on the back of a snug-fit dress seemed informed by the sporty athleticism of swimwear. Odd couple? Not in this pro’s hands. Rodriguez exerts such fine control that the billowing silhouettes and the body-con ones looked recognizably his own here. A steady palette of white and black, accented with greige-y pastels, helped to hold his disparate themes together.As visually inclined as Rodriguez is, a lot of this collection’s appeal was in its hand feel, a quality difficult to represent in photos. Terrific ribbed-knit heathered cashmeres in asymmetric cuts didn’t make the lookbook. Also tempting was a seamless dress in a superfine gauge technical knit, as well as a long-sleeved LBD with a twist and drape at the natural waist.
2 June 2017
There is a lot of noise atNew York Fashion Week. The street style maelstrom. The celebrity photo ops. The celebrity designers! The constant shutter releasing of a zillion iPhones.Narciso Rodriguez’s show is a balm for those abuses: intimate and serene, and smaller than usual this season. Before the show he said, “It’s getting louder and more distracting and more confusing. For me, it’s a moment to bring it back to the clothes.”He sliced the guest list and rearranged seats, so the models were closer than usual, the better to zero in on what Rodriguez specializes in: bias draping, architectural seaming, and, this season, some unexpected embroideries. Those were washers, the kind you’d find at the hardware store, decorating a trio of dresses in coated silk satin that looked almost liquid. The long black one with delicate straps should be on a plane to L.A. tomorrow so that some slinky starlet can wear it to this Sunday’s Emmys. Swap out the flats for heels and it would be red carpet–ready. For more casual evenings, Rodriguez proposed tuxedo pants and pebble silk tops that extended almost to the floor in back—easy, but not without drama.Easy but not without drama is a fair way to sum up this collection, the former coming through in the soft bias swirl of ribbed knit pullovers and crinkled linen cardigan dresses, and the latter via color and an abstracted photo print of city lights, citron on midnight blue or light violet on plum. Rodriguez leaned too heavily on orange, which can be a challenging shade to wear, but the liquid mercury of coated silk satin was sensational. Accompanying one of those silver sheaths was a new bag. A flat nubuck tote given three-dimensionality by a seam that curved away from one corner, it was entirely without bells and whistles, superfluous charms or doodads. Ahh.
14 September 2016
The big surprise atNarciso Rodriguezthis morning was the print, a rarity at the label. Inspired by Japanese graphics, the sharply drawn blooms had an almost naive quality. A woman wearing the long-sleeved, floor-length dress in the motif at an arty New York gala this winter will receive plenty of attention. Otherwise, the news for Resort was the slightly more relaxed silhouette. “Sexy, easy, fluid,” was Rodriguez’s mantra. It came across clearest in dresses and tops with egg-shaped volumes and triangular arm holes that exposed a flash of rib cage. He created graphic interest on these pieces by splicing them with contrast colors for effects that looked organic or geometric.Fans of his more familiar body-loving silhouettes aren’t out of luck, though. On the racks were a pair of sheaths with crisscross splicing on the bodice; in leather and a stretch wool, they’ll fit like a glove. He also added corset detailing to delectable cashmere sweaters. Elsewhere, his evening offering has grown. There were the bias-cut silk charmeuse slip dresses he’s known for, and a burnout velvet interpretation of the Japanese print on a sweet sleeveless dress. Most striking was a silk shantung gown in the palest blush pink with an asymmetrical shoulder line. In the photo here, it has the drama of a Greek marble statue, but the neckline is actually an adjustable sash, and very much in keeping with the “easy” portion of his mantra.
6 June 2016
It’s rare to see a big chunky sweater atNarciso Rodriguez, as we did when the second model out emerged in hand-knit black cashmere with a wrap neckline and an asymmetrical hem. Rodriguez is an exacting tailor; his jackets are precision instruments, engineered for a perfect fit. It means that his clothes are quite formal in tone—you don’t wear Narciso to Sunday brunch with the girls. Or at least, you didn’t until now. Rodriguez showed his sweater with an asymmetrical hem silk skirt, but paired with vintage Levi’s it could be just the thing for your weekly ritual green juice and avocado toast.There was more where that casually chic sweater came from. Rodriguez had a pair of wrap coats, the laid-back spirit of which was accentuated by their baked-in plissé wrinkles. Another group of jackets and coats was made from the reverse side of wool jacquard so that grids of floating yarns were visible. They looked almost like blankets. Clutched in the crooks of arms, the collection’s new bags followed the same soft, unstructured principle. In the past, Rodriguez has done mostly frame bags and architectural clutches. Change was definitely afoot; there were even pointy-toed metallic oxfords.His other interest this season was bias cutting; that doesn’t necessarily qualify as news with Rodriguez, but the vigor with which he pursued it does. The panne velvet of the closing slip dress looked like liquid; it’ll feel like a dream to wear. He also tried bias cutting suede, a tricky proposition; thanks to its weight, the three-dimensional results were almost sculptural. Best of the lot was a series of narrow shifts paneled in bronze or pewter in abstract shapes that resembled letters. Swap out those shiny oxfords for heels, and you’ve got yourself a date night dress.
17 February 2016
Narciso Rodriguezreports that his latest Pre-Fall collection is 35 percent bigger than his last one, a stat made even more impressive by the fact that what you hear from most designers and retailers these days is how tough business is. Credit for Rodriguez’s success must go to his consistency. All around him fashion can go mad for the bohemian ’70s or grunge ’90s or whatever else is coming down the pike, but Rodriguez stays true to his customer: a high-powered woman who has to look sharp from sunup until well past sundown, and rarely has time for a wardrobe change.This season, he said, her busy schedule had him thinking a lot about versatility. He’s long been fond of a reversible double-face coat; here he applied that two-for-one idea to a two-piece dress that layered an asymmetric-hem (shorter in front, longer in back) silk tee over a silk slip dress. Elsewhere he was keen to emphasize the uncategorizable quality of a loose-fitting dress with a capelike back. Day? Evening? Do distinctions like that really matter? With the swap of a shoe it would work around the clock. Good thing, then, that Rodriguez’s pointy-toed, slightly elevated mule and low-heeled booties have never looked better.
8 December 2015
Narciso Rodriguezis an engineer as much as he is a designer. He’s always had a thing for seams, and his clothes are constructed like precision instruments. After aFall collectionwith elongated silhouettes perched on towering heels that took his preoccupations to extremes, Rodriguez was after something more sensual here. “It’s a bit undone,” he said beforehand. Outfit number one was a black sateen top as glossy as leather that wrapped asymmetrically around the waist above a pair of full white trousers. Not undone by a long shot, but it was definitely more relaxed than what he’s been up to the last couple of seasons. It was followed up with an extremely fitted side-buttoning jacket: As a rule, though, the clothes here floated on the body. Silk tees slouched off one shoulder, and dresses twisted around the legs to fall in asymmetrical hems.The gentler silhouette was a welcome development. So too was Rodriguez’s use of fabrics with a keen sense of the hand: the sateen that looked like leather and the nubby linen he chose for dresses that arched over one knee, which, by the way, happened to be completely reversible to silk chiffon. Tech fabrics tend to have a flatness that leaves you cold. There wasn’t a chance of that here. Rodriguez explained that his starting point was photographs of the ocean floor, but the palette was warm: bright amber, lacquer red, and golden mineral rings that swooped across dresses and encircled others from front to back. The sea creature embroidery on a bias-cut white silk dress was as exquisite as anything we’ll see all season.
16 September 2015
Narciso Rodriguez is not a designer who clicks his way through Tumblr or Instagram for references. Better off leaving that to the kids. His Resort inspiration came from a much more unusual, and unlikely, place: a trove of antique men's tie templates. The precise tucks and folds of the ties' paper patterns gave him a jumping-off point for the tucks and folds on the torso of a body-skimming sleeveless white sheath and a blush-tone, slightly more-away-from-the-body tank dress. Those pleats and creases in turn led him to the color-blocked prints on another pair of slim-cut dresses. They were easily the boldest prints he's done in some time: graphic but also somehow organic.Rodriguez has a very distinct voice. To the inexpert eye, the shifts in his tailoring from season to season may be difficult to register. But those more familiar with his work will notice a timely loosening up of the silhouette, which was flat as a board on the Fall runway. His black pantsuit was as expertly cut as ever, but it had a relaxed attitude that will make it a friendlier fit. Elsewhere, a shirtdress and jumpsuit in lightweight tropical wool were also more generously proportioned than usual, not slouchy or oversized by any stretch of the imagination, but with a nice bit of air between fabric and skin. That said, if you want a scuba-tight little black dress, Rodriguez is still your go-to guy. His latest iteration comes with sexy cutouts on the back.
4 June 2015
In all his years on the runway, Narciso Rodriguez has never once shown a platform. Tonight he went there. His spiked-heel shiny leather shoes turned the models, many of whom are around 6 feet to begin with, into willowy giants. Rodriguez was after a new silhouette, ultra-long and lean. Waists were high; trouser hems nearly grazed the floor; and coats, which fastened on the inside with a band of fabric below the chest, fell to several inches south of the knees. To accentuate the neat, narrow line, Rodriguez stuck with sheer bodysuits and second-skin knits on top, a bandeau covering and compressing the bust. The clothes were impeccable flat planes, almost two-dimensional. Reduced in the extreme, they benefited from the addition of brushed-gold "Möbius" chokers and cuffs.A fixation on India's maharajas—"what they wore, the materials, the embroideries, and the silhouettes"—gave the collection its warmth. Rodriguez has always exhibited a subtle color sense. Here, he mixed a saffron vest and blush pink flares to fairly intoxicating effect. An iris blue coat and pale citrine pants made for a quieter pair, but the combination was similarly captivating. Vibrant marigold embroidery turned up on the bodice of a sleeveless sheath; other dresses featured traceries of bullion that had the hand-drawn quality of flower sketches. The workmanship will ensure that these are expensive pieces, but they retain a precious quality—not quite couture, but very considered—that will make them worth the money. By the end, Rodriguez had returned to pared-back mode. Worn with black pants, a white silk top that spiraled like a sari from one shoulder to the knees was the evening outfit that every editor who was in the room will want to wear next season.For Tim Blanks' take on Narciso Rodriguez, watch this video.
17 February 2015
Narciso Rodriguez is one of the most meticulous designers on the planet. He also works quite iteratively. If it wasn't a surprise to discover he'd taken the reversible concept he introduced for Resort and run with it for Pre-Fall, his new blazer, A-line skirt, and sleeveless dress—all in luxurious double-face—were nonetheless marvels of precision and fit. And talk about versatile: The opposite side of an understated lapel-less charcoal coat was ivory with a bold band of yellow. You couldn't go unnoticed in a number like that. The other news here was his expanded eveningwear range. Retailers have finally realized what bold-facers like Julianna Margulies and Julia Louis-Dreyfus have known for years. Rodriguez makes some of the sexiest gowns around, quite body-conscious yet still discreet. Tops among today's offering was a spaghetti-strap dress with a fitted white bodice and a long black skirt in a soft washed silk. If we don't see it on the red carpet before awards season ends, we'll be surprised. A streamlined black jumpsuit with a revealing T-strap back had a little less star wattage but still gave off plenty of heat.
4 December 2014
Julianna Margulies picked up an Emmy in a Narciso Rodriguez frock a couple weeks back. It was beaded in a subtle black ombré, with narrow straps and a dangerously low back—the kind of dress you've got to work hard at the gym for. Rodriguez's Spring collection was equally body loving. Plunging V-neck tank tops with strappy harness backs came neatly tucked into high-rise pants in scuba fabric or narrow, above-the-knee skirts. Graphic color-blocking accentuated the models' sharp angles, less so their curves.Rigorous is the right word for those looks. Tight is another. So it was good that Rodriguez balanced them out with easier pieces, like short, fluid dresses to the mid-thigh, ensnared around the torso with thick, three-dimensional bands of beads. Anna Ewers' white wool version with beads in bronze, brown, and pink was especially sexy. Backstage Rodriguez said he'd been thinking about water and how the light on its surface suggested seams and embroideries. It also gave him his hemlines, which undulated suggestively around the thighs.The show could've done with a bit more of that free association; as it was, it felt somewhat narrow in its reach. But in the end, precision and flou came together beautifully on a trio of dresses in white and black. With their geometric panels of bugle beads, as shiny as an oil slick, and their graceful asymmetric hems, they were the best things going here.
9 September 2014
Reversible. It's not a concept you come across much in high fashion. Narciso Rodriguez expended a good bit of energy making not only his knit sweaters reversible this season, but also a double jacquard dress. The pieces were a testament to Rodriguez's ingenuity and his abiding interest in his customers' real-life needs. Who couldn't use two frocks for the price of one?That wasn't the only way he was thinking outside the box. Rodriguez just may be one of the most print-averse designers on the planet, but after looking at a lot of figurative painting, he was compelled to give florals a spin. He did them his own way, of course, combining the romance of watercolor blooms with athletic, brightly colored neoprene, or matching a graphic black-and-white vine motif with a more delicate leaf print in violet and white. He even tried out prints for evening, a rare occasion indeed. The ankle-grazing slipdress in a watercolor floral with a nude bodice will be snapped up by one of his bold-faced true believers. Stretchy, body-con cocktail dresses and jumpsuits with geometric cutouts in back were less unexpected, but not unwelcome.
9 June 2014
Backstage at Narciso Rodriguez, there was a board with all of the show's looks on it. Not just the front view, but the side and back too. Season by season, Rodriguez's fixations shift. They're subtle changes, for sure, but he delights in them. And when he's good, as he was here, his customers delight in them, too. After the leggy rigor of Rodriguez's Spring show, he's loosened the silhouette up a bit. It wasn't quite slouchy, but there was a nice sense of movement in pieces like a red wool cocoon coat roomy enough for a substantial sweater underneath, and in a breezy silk dress in oxidized bronze and the faintest mint green that will feel good against bare skin when these clothes arrive in stores midsummer. On Rodriguez's structured jackets, the front was quite rigorous with arcing lines crisscrossing the torso, while the back had a forgiving, slightly rounded shape (hence the 360-degree views on the board). The ivory one in particular looked like a good match forScandal's Olivia Pope. Other jackets were cut almost like cardigans, a point Rodriguez emphasized by lining the interior with different colors. One lapel on a gray wool jacket flapped open to reveal color-blocked blush and saffron; the other was charcoal and navy. It's the inside of clothes we're talking about. Does anybody else work as hard on such details?The great thing about Rodriguez's work here is that the results didn't feel effortful. Someone spent a very, very long time attaching tiny bugle beads to a sleeveless shift dress. And the way the titanium, platinum, and bronze-colored beads were embroidered made them glow like poured metal. From where we were sitting, it looked a future heirloom, and yet it slipped on and fit like a favorite oversize T-shirt.
11 February 2014
Is the Narciso Rodriguez trick to make more look like less, or less look like more? The designer is a master of elegant simplicity. It was no surprise that for Pre-Fall, he started with the simplest of shapes—the T-shirt—and alchemized it. (A black T-shirt is his de facto uniform.) "The ease of a T-shirt got it all rolling," he said.The resulting pieces—thigh-grazing tee dresses; silk jacquard tops with skinny, two-tone cigarette trousers; placket-less jackets in a mostly black and white palette livened up with blush, royal purple, and brick—had the clean lines and rigorous purity he's known for. "I like seeing something quite pure," he said. (Barely a button or snap was visible anywhere.) And yet from those plain beginnings, he wrought something wonderful. His prints were not prints but jacquard; a standout jacket was woven in hairy, tufted tweed. The patterned pieces were mitred together on the bias so that the motif changed over the landscape of each piece: here a spot, there a jointed heart.Is he elevating the simple? He's obsessive in his attentions to the insides, outsides, structure, and stuff of a garment. He turned jackets inside-out to show the color blocking on the lining, no less deliberate than that on the outside; one T-shirt dress was cut in such a way that it appeared to be wilting. Or is it that he's boiling down the construction fit for the most precise, complicated pieces into the purer shapes that suit his taste? The world may never know. Happily, they're easy to appreciate from either side of that ideological divide.
9 December 2013
The first thing you noticed was the new proportion. Narciso Rodriguez brought hems up to the mid-thigh, sometimes higher, at his terrific show tonight with something he's dubbed the "half-skirt." A hybrid, its front panel wraps only partway around, revealing the neat (and, let's call them what they are, modesty-protecting) shorts underneath. Problem solving isn't sexy, but it's a key to Rodriguez's success; he never forgets to balance desire with practicality. There was more going on here, though, than minis.While the overall silhouette was quite flat and simple, one by one the pieces were put together in complicated ways. A sleeveless shift was stitched from geometric slices of pastel brocades, and a white slipdress was composed from panels of sheer silk and opaque crepe. The crucial point is: Nothing looked overworked; on the contrary, there was a real sensuality. Perhaps the clothes that best conveyed that were the three slipdresses at the end. From a distance they read like a print, or maybe like the dévorés that came before them, but as the model breezed by you saw that the designs were actually bonded to the silk. Rodriguez called it "a new kind of lace," and the frocks were fairly sublime.Tailoring has been a big part of the story at Rodriguez's last two collections. It wasn't the main event here, but it was nonetheless inventive. A collarless white wool jacket with a deep black inset at the hem was sharp and graphic—just about perfect.
9 September 2013
"Very relaxed and easy, but special." That sounds like a designer at cross-purposes with himself, but Narciso Rodriguez handled the dueling concepts with aplomb for Resort. They came together beautifully in the collection's first look, a simple little shift made from raw linen laminated in a diamond pattern, and black satin that was first laser-cut into diamonds and then bonded to chiffon. From afar, the laminated linen glistened in such a way that it looked like sequins. Another dress, constructed from chiffon bonded with a scrolling laser-cut satin motif, could've been a newfangled, twenty-first-century lace.Rodriguez has always loved technically challenging cuts. His tailored jackets have a sleek sensibility that belies their complicated patterns. This season, he really pushed the idea of technologies, too. "I'm considering every detail," he said. "There's so much fast fashion out there; I want this to be of the highest quality." What kept the bonded laser-cut motifs layered over black and white stripes from feeling fussy was the effortlessness of the silhouettes—those uncomplicated shifts, as well as tunics layered over pajama pants, and a strapless dress that fell straight from a silver leather band at the bust to the hem. He paired most looks with pointy-toed flat slides in python or diamond-laminated linen, adding to the collection's elegantly nonchalant spirit.
10 June 2013
Put another one in the win column for Narciso Rodriguez. The designer said a Lygia Clark exhibition at the São Paulo Biennial got him started on his new collection, a second act of sorts to Spring. "I came back and everything in my life was about color and asking how do you mix color in interesting ways, which is sort of a different road for me." He was just getting warmed up last season. Here, he seemed even freer, mixing a cognac coat with a tangerine top and midnight blue pants, or emerald and teal in both matte and shine on a strappy slipdress. Another slipdress, this one above the knee in front and almost to the floor in back, combined black, olive green, navy, and ivory. Oh, to see that at the Oscars. Rodriguez played it loose with silhouette, too; among the most striking looks were a trio of deceptively simple sleeveless trapeze dresses in crepe and duchesse silk, cut on the bias to increase their movement.Of course, it wouldn't be a Narciso collection without a little rigor. His tailoring is precise, maybe a shade or two closer to the body than last time around. Cutaway jackets came lapel-less, with narrow sleeves, their angular shapes highlighted by the A-line tunics worn underneath them. Pants tapered to above the ankle. A favorite look paired a sleek bustier with those slim, short trousers. His footwear collection is just a year old, but he's a quick study, and his shoes tonight deserve a shout-out, too. Pumps with pointy cap toes, high vamps, higher stiletto heels, and delicate ankle straps, they don't look like anything else on the runways this week. And the same could be said for the rest of this standout show.
11 February 2013
One of the perks of the pre-fall season is discovering parts of a designer's collection that don't make it to the runway, because they're too basic or not editorial enough or what have you. Our discovery at Narciso Rodriguez today was his knits. The designer reported that the knits portion of his business has tripled in size over the last several seasons, and with their optical stripes and color-blocked designs, you could see why. Not only the sweaters but also the sleeveless stretchy shifts were reversible, adding to their appeal.Leather is another category that's growing for Rodriguez. A pair of sheaths, one in stretch leather and another in softest calfskin, showcased his mastery of the materials at hand. Their silhouettes were virtually identical—even their colors were nearly the same—but thanks to the ways each were constructed, they were unique enough that you could see the most devoted of Narciso fans rationalizing buying both.In the end, pre-fall is a sales-driven season, and Rodriguez used the opportunity to revisit some of the hits from his brilliant Spring collection, adding a contrasting stripe of color to his hip-slung, cropped trousers and recutting his languidly tailored jackets in heavier-weight crepes. The collection wasn't without a new hit of its own. A leather T-shirt worn with ankle-length, tapered pants in a slightly different shade of red captured the easy spirit of his last runway show and also put the emphasis on his bold color sense.
9 December 2012
It was raves all around after Narciso Rodriguez's show tonight. The designer has been going from success to success lately, but this collection really got the blood pumping. And it wasn't just the girls in the crowd whose pulses were racing. Yes, there were pantsuits and beaded muscle tees and trousers that all nailed the way we want to look at work right now. But those slipdresses with the sheer mesh backs that plunged all the way to there—those were people-pleasers, and by "people" we mean those of the male variety. Satisfying both a woman's wardrobe needs and a man's eye, that's the whole package. And that's why this was the most successful lineup of Rodriguez's career.How'd he do it? Backstage he played it modest. "I love my work," he shrugged, then added, "it's a good time in my life." It showed. Rodriguez dug into color for Spring: a blood orange sheath was bisected down the front and across the waist in brick; a teal and moss green crepe dress came with laminated-wood paillette embroidery; and one of those muscle tees was embellished with dense swirls of brick, marigold, and black beads. And then there was the sex. Rodriguez spliced shirts all the way down to the navel, and cropped the underpinning below the bust to reveal several provocative inches of midriff. He placed an arrowhead-shaped cutout at the solar plexus of an otherwise demure ivory silk sleeveless shift. And as for Kinga Rajzak's embroidered slipdress, if you think it looked good coming, trust us, it looked even better going. The clothes should sell like gangbusters in the stores. One high-profile retailer was so gobsmacked she said, "There's no reason why anybody should dress any other way."
10 September 2012
A bulletin board lined with colorful silk ribbon doesn't sound like enough to build a season's worth of clothes on, but it proved plenty inspiring for Narciso Rodriguez. He's a talent who's always been compelled as much by the process of designing as the results; watching his presentation today, you could see how he connected the dots for Resort. In this case, the dots were stripes.Photographs of the ribbons first became the striped print on the front of a sleeveless silk blouse. Moving on from there, the print morphed into color-block designs on the bodices of strappy dresses, and taking the idea one step further, into the geometric collage of red, black, white, and snake-print jacquard on a fitted sheath. If it sounds conceptual, there was nothing abstract about the end products. Looking at his sexy, body-skimming dresses, you're almost tempted to call Rodriguez results-oriented; they're not the kind of thing for going around unnoticed in.His bias-cut, lapel-less jackets and slim, tapering pants, by their very nature, are less revealing. They trigger a different kind of desire reflex—the desire for an expertly cut pantsuit that's comfortable and cool in equal degrees.
17 June 2012
Narciso Rodriguez introduced new shoe and handbag collections at his show. They mixed precious materials like alligator, lizard, and python with suede in geometric ways. His clothes for Fall share a similar sense of being spliced together. A neat-and-trim charcoal tweed peplum jacket was patchworked on one shoulder and the opposite hip. And a pair of fab beaver fur coats were color-blocked in warm autumnal shades. (The show's color palette was moody and gorgeous.) Coats had bell-like volumes, blossoming out below the waist or, less successfully, falling in A-line tent shapes from the shoulders. Things weren't quite so mathematical on a good deal of the ready-to-wear. Rodriguez's minimalism is a sensual minimalism; at his best he lets the body lead.So day dresses draped around the torso, where the interplay of matte and shiny fabrics accentuated natural curves. Both a double-layer tweed and flannel bustier and a tank stitched from black lace and embroidered silk looked slightly askew, and sexier for it. Rodriguez applied that same lesson to narrow, bias-cut silk evening skirts with fluttering trains that gave runway wind machines a good name.Pants haven't been getting much play this week, and they weren't the main thing on Rodriguez's mind, either, but the trousers he did show had a sporty yet polished ease.
13 February 2012
Walking into Narciso Rodriguez's showroom for a pre-fall appointment, three things hit you. Three great-looking leather and wool coats with fox sleeves, to be precise. Ginormous fur sleeves aren't exactly news in the designer world, but removable ginormous fur sleeves are, and, to top that, two of the coats were completely reversible. Lately, the women in Style.com's office have been lamenting the lack of winter coats in department stores in December. If you want one of these special numbers next year, you'll have to move fast. They arrive in stores before summer officially begins and they definitely won't be lingering on racks for long.There were more contenders for must-have status where those came from. Take a sleeveless sheath with a brushstroke motif and seamed satin bust line, as if Rothko had whipped up one of his famous canvases on scuba neoprene. Color-blocked ski sweaters teamed with leather and stretch fabric leggings were more everyday in their appeal, but they fit the description Rodriguez gave the collection: He called it a "sporty, painterly crash."
5 December 2011
Narciso Rodriguez is a designer who specializes in subtlety. His minimalist tendencies were made for standing out in a New York fashion week like this one, with its over-the-top color and nonstop prints. Turns out, though, that Rodriguez isn't necessarily feeling clean and spare either. In fact, he positively broke loose for Spring. Backstage, he said his starting point was art, specifically the work of the contemporary Korean artist Kim Joon. A little Google research turned up hundreds of photographs of Joon's body tattoos, and it wasn't a stretch to make the connection between them and the graphic color-blocking and squiggle print in Rodriguez's collection.It started simply, with a black T-shirt, its shoulders slightly padded, worn with a pair of white trousers with a jagged black waistband. But the patchworking quickly became more intense. Dresses were pieced together like a puzzle from parallelograms of sheer and opaque fabrics, solids and prints. And there was asymmetry everywhere, from the hems of a pair of excellent shirtdresses to the vests that were glorified scarves draped over the models' heads, with only one end tucked in. It wasn't complex for complexity's sake; the results were elegant and crisp.For evening, he softened things up, using silver and white silk dévoré for slipdresses that he layered over brightly colored bra tops. The finale number, with its swirl of icy blue at the hips, is a contender for dress of the week.
12 September 2011
For Resort, Narciso Rodriguez was inspired by a meeting with the great Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera—a woman who, by the way, sold her first painting at 89 before being warmly embraced by the art world. Her abstract, geometric works became the oversized, layered blocks of color and fabric in the collection.Rodriguez's name is often associated with pure forms and minimal elegance, but for Resort—following up on the masculine/feminine play and color-blocking of Fall—he pushed in a more graphic direction. Treated fabrics jostle natural ones; laminated canvas and twill giving a shiny, almost leatherlike finish and a hint of a street edge. (One key dress boasts a laminated silk bustier for a hint of fetish without revealing an inch too much flesh—a sneaky trick tucked into a prim, pretty, flared-skirt silhouette. A good one, too.) There was a tomboyish, gamine quality to Rodriguez's sleeveless blazers, smart shorts, and flats. And with an exposed bra here and there, some sex appeal, too.Less explicitly sexy were the simple shifts that are a label standard. This season, they came in what the designer called "engineered plaids," boldly colored and blown up to the point of barest recognition. Engineering is a good word for Rodriguez; so is its close cousin, architecture. He specializes in the structure that underlies every piece. "There's so much fast fashion, easy fashion," he said. "I want to create a dress that's simple. But there's a great deal of work that goes into that." Not easy. Not fast. But you know what they say about the slow and the steady when it comes to the proverbial race.
2 June 2011
To get to the heart of Narciso Rodriguez's Fall collection, you have to start with the boots. They were pointy-toed and extended halfway up the shin, but their most notable feature was that they were flat. There's been a lot of talk lately about kitten heels, flat-forms, and the return of practical shoes, but it's just that, mostly talk. The fashion crowd hasn't been too quick to give up its stilettos. So it took a fair amount of self-assurance to commit as resolutely to flat boots as Rodriguez did. They weren't necessarily the obvious choice for his sleeveless, somewhat loose-fitting, three-quarter-length dresses, and yet they worked, lending the collection a modern, un-prissy appeal that connected it to the street.Sticking to one dress silhouette as he did allowed Rodriguez to zero in on fabric, cut, and color. Backstage he said he was looking at different kinds of art, but collage in particular, which made sense when you saw the color-blocking and the way he combined not just hues (midnight, black, lavender, and cobalt, say) but also textures (silk and wool, or chiffon and bands of sequins). A series of red, pink, white, and black printed silkfil coupéshifts, meanwhile, had a softer, more painterly hand.As for the tailoring, it was grown-up where the dresses were fresh. A tonal charcoal plaid blazer, fastened with hooks and eyes, and its matching pants were as close as Rodriguez got to a straight-up suit. Like others have this season, he showed two-tone trousers. Jackets and coats were bisected vertically and horizontally with stripes of contrasting colors. It was super-graphic.Following on last season's stroll through his nineties hits, this was Rodriguez waxing anti-nostalgic. We're glad we tuned in.
14 February 2011
Years of putting celebrities like Claire Danes, Julianna Margulies, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in sexy, scuba-tight dresses have earnedNarciso Rodriguezhis rep as a maestro of fit. But sit down with him to discuss his clothes and it's apparent that fabric comes first. "I love working with the factories, with the fabric technicians," he says. Rodriguez put them to work for pre-fall, decolorizing silk to create rainbowlike ombré effects on a wrap top layered under a fitted tweed jacket, or laundering flannel to give an otherwise pulled-together sheath a lived-in effect.The sheer black camisole that topped a washed rose jacquard dress riffed on the lingerie details of his hit Spring show. Playing the feminine against the masculine is the designer's MO this season, and it made for a surefooted, sellable outing. For every delicate slipdress, there was a sweeping leather trench; A-line skirts came paired with a boyish zip-front jacket or a peacoat. Speaking of outerwear, Rodriguez sourced what just might qualify as the world's softest, most cashmerelike wool. He cut it into a light gray-blue cardigan coat so plush you'll want to wear it as a bathrobe.
6 December 2010
If the first look out at Narciso Rodriguez—a lean, gray sleeveless shift—gave you Kate Moss (in the Johnny Depp days) at Cannes, it wasn't your imagination, but rather the designer's intention. "I was looking at old pictures from the nineties, you know, Carolyn, Kate," said Rodriguez before the show. Carolyn would be Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, whose elegant but shockingly simple wedding dress made Narciso Rodriguez a household name in 1996.We've been seeing a lot of stripped-down looks this week, but with this quietly beautiful collection, Rodriguez, one of the O.G. nineties minimalists, showed everyone how it's done. "There's so much noise in fashion," he continued. "I wanted something fresh, easy, and pretty." There was plenty of pretty in blush-hued silks cut on the bias, and Rodriguez's version of modern vintage in tea dresses in afils coupepatterned with abstract leaves and vines inspired by video artist Jennifer Steinkamp.The counterpoint to that was Rodriguez's excellent tailoring in strong-shouldered suits that any smart woman circa 1997 or 2011 would be thrilled to own. Stark and dark collarless coats were thrown over silk tank dresses, with more shades of Kennedy. There was a beauty to these seemingly simple clothes that needs to be seen up close, like the layering of different fabrics and the designer's sure hand with cutting and bias technique. Like he did over a decade ago, Rodriguez reminded us that minimalism doesn't need to battle the feminine form or preclude a sense of romance. This was a quiet triumph for Rodriguez.
13 September 2010
Narciso Rodriguez opened his Resort presentation with a blush pink pantsuit in silk crepe with black satin lining. Relaxed but still elegant, and slightly unexpected, it would make a fantastic outfit for tonight's CFDA Awards. "I wanted to get back to the classics here that we love," he said. "You know, all-American sportswear." Translation: Sleeveless dresses with hint-of-skin cutouts below the bust, a house signature, came tailored this time in menswear fabrics, and they were shown alongside a lot of sporty-ish separates. Sleeveless tops were tucked into low-slung tapering pants and slim knee-length skirts fastened with karate uniform belts. With other designers concentrating on after-dark options or getaway clothes for Resort, Rodriguez' movement toward easy-chic urban staples is well played.
6 June 2010
When Julianna Margulies picked up awards at both the Golden Globes and the SAGs earlier this year, she looked every inch a winner in a pair of Narciso Rodriguez gowns. Clearly, this designer can do red-carpet sizzle with the best of them, but as it turned out, that isn't where his head was at for Fall. Inspired by what he described in rather cerebral terms as "beautiful curved lines and shadows," he sent out dramatic coats and eye-grabbing, short, color-blocked and ombré dresses. If the concept was brainy, the execution was never boring.The curved lines Rodriguez spoke of backstage came into play in a number of ways: as a circular silk mikado inset on the front of his show-opening wool twill coat, or in the graceful lines of a bell-shaped black shearling. Dresses came with doubled asymmetrical bodices in contrasting colors, or they were paired with cropped jackets studded with nail heads, exposing flashes of collarbone or rib.As for those shadows, they made a subtle appearance on a wool/angora coat that shaded barely perceptibly from chalk white to gray to green. They also surfaced more aggressively on a fantastic zip-front dress that swirled from brick red through gray. In a season heavy on black and relatively light on uplift, these clothes will stand out on the racks. This was about as maximal as this minimalist gets, and for Rodriguez the result was a strong, finely balanced collection.
15 February 2010
Narciso Rodriguez's lineup opened with a red double-face cashmere wool balloon coat and tapering trousers. "Early fall is about menswear, the boys' club," the designer said. "But the silhouettes are exaggerated." In both directions: The next look was a washed heavyweight winter cotton pantsuit, the shrunken jacket of which had toylike proportions. On the relaxed side, he showed a cap-sleeve sack dress in a metallic-shot wool with slash pockets at the hips, and an easy gray flannel jumpsuit with matching grosgrain trim. Stretch knit sleeveless tops and skirts, meanwhile, and his asymmetric-neckline cocktail fare, including one knockout L.B.D. with a bodice embroidered with blackened red sequins, followed much more body-con lines. Never for a moment did any of these experiments with volume, or the lack thereof, look like anything but signature Rodriguez, and that should certainly please his sophisticated power-women clients.
3 December 2009
If Narciso Rodriguez ventured into futuristic-warrior-woman territory last season, Spring found him embracing his softer side. Ironically, it made for a stronger collection. The vibe was still plenty sexy: A killer sheath color-blocked from jute linen canvas and black silk jacquard had front-row star Jessica Alba's name written all over it. A pair of shifts, one in white, the other pink, came with graphic cutouts on the upper back, while another dress was essentially a mesh tank with strategically placed ovals of printed fuchsia silk. All three were revealing without being vulgar, a balance other designers have had some difficulty achieving this season.But Rodriguez also loosened up the silhouette dramatically, letting the air in, so to speak, on everything from a white silk, linen, and organza bubble dress to a silk mud-cloth coat. Both were stitched together in back like pieces of a geometric puzzle, creating a three-dimensionality that was equal parts arty and easy. The show ended with a trio of short-in-front, long-in-back tent dresses that took this concept to the extreme. Chic, modern propositions for a black-tie evening, they billowed dramatically behind the models in the runway breeze.As for that burning question—what will Michelle Obama wear?—our bet is on a deceptively simple and, yes, sleeveless natural linen dress. Its subtle sophistication shows Rodriguez in peak form.
14 September 2009
"This is our most complete Resort collection ever," said Narciso Rodriguez, as his models strode out in peekaboo-toe flats wearing crisp short-sleeved blouses with cropped pants and wrap jackets topping sculptural skirts. The emphasis, however, was definitely on dresses—"they're what sell the best," the designer shrugged. Relaxed and loose, they were cut from indigo and white printed charmeuse or printed linen, while the more fitted silhouettes were crafted from "engineered silk/viscose knits" in ultraviolet or lilac. A trio of red-carpet numbers were loaded with the kind of Rodriguez signatures—cutouts on the bodice, graphic seaming, body-loving stretch fabrics—that keep the Hollywood A-listers coming back for more.
1 June 2009
For Michelle Obama watchers, Narciso Rodriguez's Fall show started auspiciously. The khaki color of the first wool twill coat that came down the runway and the fitted jacket and legging pant that followed it echoed the ensemble he created for our First Lady to wear on inauguration weekend. But anybody who came hoping to see some sort of White House wardrobe left disappointed. Rodriguez is too subtle and savvy a designer for something like that.The show marked his return to the Bryant Park tents, where he hadn't been on the schedule since 2005 (in between, he helped pioneer Chelsea as a fashion week scene). People who've followed his career will have observed the reappearance of one or two motifs, starting with the sporty, scubalike detailing of a black hooded knit bodysuit worn with an equally clingy skirt. Fall also found him continuing to experiment with bold color. This season it's highlighter yellow and pink—somewhat challenging shades, but certainly timely—in stretch knit dresses with graphic cutouts or in silk overlaid with black lace. Even more unexpected were the black and white camouflage pieces accessorized with storm-trooper hats with slits for the models' eyes. As comments about the dangerous times we're living in, they made a sort of sense, even if they didn't really jibe with an aesthetic that is, above all, about cool, graphic minimalism.Rodriguez and his investors at Liz Claiborne parted ways last October; losing your backing, especially in a market like this, is no doubt a source of distraction. Perhaps because of that, this collection didn't quite have the wow factor of his recent outings.
16 February 2009
Narciso Rodriguez may be coming off a major coupMichelle Obama wore a dress from his Spring show to her husband's election night rally, in case you were hiding under a ballot machinebut there's been no slowing down. "This is our most polished pre-collection ever," Rodriguez said. "It has to be; we do so much more business now during the pre-seasons." Perhaps taking a cue from Obama's red and black embroidered dress, the designer infused pre-fall with plenty of brilliant colorsfuchsia, ruby, deep purple, and inky blue. He also continued to play with the banding motifs that made his last collection so sexy. It wasn't all provocation, though. There was a new suit silhouettea nipped-waist, longer jacket with fuller, more relaxed pants. And on the playful side, he showed fabric collage prints. Blown up, they created a trompe l'oeil effect on a silk dress, and in miniature, they marched around a white silk skirt.
4 December 2008
"Rocking ninja-star action!" No, it's not some new video game; it's how Narciso Rodriguez summed up his Spring collection. He's never been a floral-print man, but this season New York's most rigorous designer really amped up the edginess with, yes, ninja-star prints and ninja-star bugle-bead embroidery, one-sleeved bandage dresses, and studded bodices that evoked armor. Even the tailoring with which he started the show had something of the warrior to it: The collar- and lapel-less zip-closure jackets he's been experimenting with the last couple of seasons came with newly rounded yet strong shoulders reminiscent of the traditionalgisof karate masters.The elevated sense of sexiness didn't come at the expense of pretty, however. There were more colors—sage, kelly green, red, salmon pink, rust, and nude—than in his last several collections combined. The banding motif that he employed throughout (strips of fabric, usually in a contrasting color or fabric arranged geometrically on the front and back of tops and dresses) served to amplify his models' hourglass curves. And then there were the cutouts, more daring than ever before, a provocative flash of skin below the bust or crisscrossing bodice straps that exposed the ribs and swaths of the models' backs. You couldn't exactly call it freewheeling, but this was Rodriguez at his loosest and best.
8 September 2008
Narciso Rodriguez called his Resort show "an homage to Hélio Oiticica"—the Brazilian artist who had a mad passion for color even as his work morphed from modernism in the vein of Mondrian to a more organic form of found-object art. The designer skillfully worked in sharp blocks of color, from the subtle icy yellow, gray, and white combination in a cotton and nylon shift to the cinnabar and coral that punctuated the second half of the collection. But ever the dyed-in-the wool minimalist, Rodriguez couldn't resist a bit of black and white, in graphic prints that nodded to comic book art.
3 June 2008
Narciso Rodriguez accomplished a difficult feat: focusing on tailoring while amping up the sex appeal. In the past, he has built collections around dresses, but, he said backstage, "Fashion is moving in so many different directions now, I want clean, pure, sexy, and solid again." That meant double-faced jackets that skimmed the torso like a second skin, and collarless coats that fell gracefully away from the body, as well as a tuxedo that had somehow lost all traces of masculinity.There was a softness to the collection, too. Witness a tweed day dress that was actually thick yarn woven through a base of chiffon, and for after dark, a peekaboo dress with a skirt of singed peacock feathers, or a safety-orange number with an elaborately pintucked bodice. Shots of paprika, celadon, and citrine also helped heat things up. Decoration, as always at this house, was minimal—lines of beads that arched along a straight skirt or the bottom of a coat.Another way Rodriguez got the job done was by turning his attentions to the back: A leather shirt was cinched with arabesques of lacing that traced the shoulders, while the straps of a rather spare (at least in front) cocktail dress crisscrossed the spine several times. Rodriguez says these were designed to turn a man's head. And nothing turns on his customers more than that.
4 February 2008
Narciso Rodriguez has joined the growing number of designers showing their pre-fall collections on a catwalk. About 50 editors and retailers gathered at the designer's Irving Place studio on Monday morning for a 23-look presentation strong on suiting options and outerwear. Narrow-waist, flaring-hem jackets worn with ankle-cropped trousers echoed some of Rodriguez's Spring looks; new to the mix was a cropped bolero that topped a twill shirt and slim pants. The fluffy, chin-grazing collars on a pair of double-face cashmere coats added a feminine note to the proceedings, as did the short, simple, and sweet cocktail dresses, the best of which fluttered to the knees from an empire waist. But there was nothing girlie about the show's standout piece, an über-chic belted shearling number with contrasting leather piping.
9 December 2007
The effect of Liz Claiborne's investment in Narciso Rodriguez's business was obvious in his womenswear: There was a real sense of chances taken that budgets would once have denied. But the ten outfits that made up the accompanying menswear were a different story. Here, it's about a slow, steady evolution, one that reflects Rodriguez's own sense of self so faithfully that these clothes could have stepped straight from his closet to his catwalk. The connection was most obvious in the shorts he showed, which inched down from Bermuda to culotte length—welcome to the many moods of Narciso's shorts. Paired with a short-sleeved suit jacket, they had a safari flavor. A shawl-colored pajama shirt gave them an indolent ease. And with a sleeveless, belted top, they looked martial-arts-ready.The remainder of the men's line was built on tailoring: gray or black suits and trousers invariably paired with a white shirt and tie. There was a monkish sobriety to the look, which was only slightly undercut by an almost imperceptible suggestion of color. One gray had a bluish tinge, the other hints of purple. A characteristic of Rodriguez's womenswear has always been intense reduction to linear essence. For this presentation, the same quality applied to his menswear, echoing the monotone drive of the show's soundtrack, Depeche Mode'sI Feel You.
9 September 2007
This was Narciso Rodriguez's first show since Liz Claiborne took a stake in his company this spring, and there was an air of anticipation on his runway that went beyond the video-camera melee caused by celebrity attendee Rachel Weisz. Would the cash infusion mean an increase in production values? Yes. Would it mean a change in direction? Not a chance. Rodriguez has an ultra-specific point of view; what's $12 million (the amount Claiborne paid for 50 percent of the label) in the face of his sacred devotion to precision seaming and architectural construction?Working what he described as a "ninja" theme, he stayed true to his rigorous silhouettes but injected both a bit of Japonisme (kimono silks, floral embroidery) and a natty new masculinity—courtesy of copper oxfords made in collaboration with Sergio Rossi's Edmundo Castillo—into his familiar sexy mix. The show opened with a snug-waisted jacket with an abbreviated peplum and skinny, short pants. Following on were smart coats with hook-and-eye closures offset to one side, simple shirts with spliced necklines tucked into pants that laced up the back, and a great zip-front black dress with a purple stripe across the waist that could've been an obi. In fact, black, purple, white, and gray were the show's predominant colors, so a burnt-orange dress with a short, full skirt really stood out. It was a perfect balance of allure and ease, and made the slip dresses he showed look flimsy in comparison.Evening is where that cash influx became obvious. While a nude dress and a black coat embroidered with whorls of georgette looked like quiet showstoppers, a pair of short cocktail numbers with caviar beads dusted across the front panels—the more striking of the two in lilac and black—are certified entrance-makers. The beginning of a beautiful relationship? From the looks of those two dresses, yes.
8 September 2007
Liz Claiborne bought a 50 percent stake in Narciso Rodriguez's company in early May, but don't expect his new partnership with the nearly $5 billion apparel giant to change his design MO. For resort, there was more of his signature precision seaming on a flowing charcoal silk evening number, as well as on suit jackets worn—with a certain playfulness—atop razor-thin walking shorts. And his commitment to understated luxury remains unchanged. Those unconventional henley-and-tank twinsets? The finest, paper-thin cashmere. What looked new and fresh was a navy and kelly-green knit tank dress and another in wide bands of periwinkle, black, and white.
9 July 2007
"Keep it light," Narciso Rodriguez said backstage. "Life is heavy enough." Apparently, last season's breakthroughs with surface decoration—the plastics, the metal appliqués, the embroideries—had left him wanting more of less. And even by his stringent standards, this was one pared-down—and, perhaps as an inevitable consequence, rather muted—collection.Blowing up and otherwise manipulating his own digital photographs, he created subtle prints and embroideries that added depth to cutaway silk dresses. (As low-key as the prints were, they proved too overpowering for signature curved-seam suits.) Other cleanly sophisticated treatments included beading in concentric squares that decorated the front of a collarless coat, and silk cord that wrapped around the torso and asymmetrically over one shoulder of long dresses.One of the show's few shots of color—in a smooth stream of black, white, cream, and gray—came in the form of a gorgeous emerald silk evening anorak. You could see that one out on the town…whereas a blue-and-black jacket in a similar shape but cut in a stiffer wool had too much of the football field about it. As he proved again with an elegant long black coat with sweeping new proportions, this minimalist is at his best when he's thinking urban (and when he's not letting the understatement undermine the drama).
5 February 2007
Narciso Rodriguez's evolutionary approach to womenswear has resulted in Seventh Avenue's most clearly defined fashion geometry. He is still in the early stages of that process with his menswear, and though his repertoire is small, it's precise: fine fabrics, a monochrome palette, athletic inspirations. This season, for instance, Rodriguez had in mind an "urban ski suit," something sleek and aerodynamic to ease one's passage through a fast-moving metropolis. That might mean a zip-front, pocketless parka, or a geometrically pieced-together cardigan jacket in a camel-colored blend of wool and nylon.The tailoring was similarly detail-free: two-button suits in gray herringbone tweed or navy wool had a plainness that virtually screamed for the imprint of the wearer's personality. (There was a smidgeon less subtlety with a cashmere sweater printed in a Rorschach-like pattern.) A black nylon coat had the stylish volume of an Eisenhower jacket. Another coat in black cashmere was belted tight to give it a skirtlike flare. The same oddly feminizing detail was echoed in the little zip on the back of a short-sleeved top. Such flourishes hinted at depths still to be explored.
5 February 2007
Narciso Rodriguez will always be a minimalist at heart. Even when he does embellishments, he can't help but do them in a streamlined way. Still, there was as much adornment as you're likely to see on a Rodriguez runway here. A pin that clasped a draped white dress at the hips resembled a polished stone. A short, gray cocktail dress was embroidered with red and black paillettes that were arrayed like the circuits of a microchip. And the long, flowing gowns that closed the show were topped with armorlike plastic breastplates in contrasting colors.Continuing where he left off last season, Rodriguez worked both sides of the structure/flow divide. He opened the show with a pair of sharply tailored boleros and a patent raincoat—all with splices below the shoulders. His jackets, as complexly seamed as ever, had kicky little peplums, and pants were cut lean, mean, and a few inches above the ankle. For evening, things were mostly softer. Those aforementioned breastplates also came in delicate embroideries: black on teal and white on white. They can't protect you, but they will help you stand out at night.
11 September 2006
"It's everything I want in my closet," Narciso Rodriguez said, reflecting on the 11 men's outfits he had just shown with his women's collection. "A black cashmere coat, a nice tie… and you can't have too many white shirts." But because this was what Narciso wanted, that cashmere coat was paired with the baggy, below-the-knee shorts that are one of his own style signatures. Maybe there won't be too many men following him there, but the rigorous cool of the other clothes on offer should find its share of takers.Using a palette reduced to black, white, and gray (or silver, as he called it), Rodriguez presented clothes that were as meticulously constructed as his womenswear. Seams were emphasized on a black leather blazer, cut with his signature body-consciousness. The same spirit dictated the nipped-in waist of a gray suit and a wool twill coat. The show music—by new L.A. band She Wants Revenge—had the harsh, angular drive of early-eighties Anglo groups. It complemented the New Wave aerodynamics of a sleeveless cashmere top, with sleeveless white shirt and tie underneath. Sleeves are clearly superfluous in the streamlined world of Narciso's men.
8 February 2006
Narciso Rodriguez's fall collection was a study in contrasts. He played with two ideas: volume and its absence. The former had him experimenting with ballooning skirts with something of the ballerina to them. The latter, more familiar territory, saw him revisiting his rigorously seamed sheaths, but in color combinations a shade more offbeat, say black, white, and baby pink. Silk insets on a wool dress looked geometric in their precision. And coats, though no doubt soft to the touch, called to mind a warrior's armor. Perhaps that's why Rodriguez has so many fans—his structured clothes make them feel protected (or put another way, held in), and sexy at once. If they call for a frame that has little in the way of the superfluous, so be it.After dark though, Rodriguez mostly avoided his signature seaming, focusing instead on simply cut, above-the-knee tanks and sheaths saved from plainness by elaborate, all-over embroidery. A white glass-beaded dress was further embellished with clear plastic paillettes. And one silk faille shift was so densely woven with silver it resembled chain mail. As for the floor-length gowns that have made him a favorite of his front-row guest, Oscar nominee Rachel Weisz, there were none to be seen on his runway. Rodriguez must be saving them for her red carpet victory lap.
6 February 2006
Narciso Rodriguez shook things up when he moved from his longtime location at the Bryant Park tents to the Exit Art gallery on Tenth Avenue. His collection might have benefited from some subtle reworking, as well. If it isn't broken, it shouldn't be fixed. But the sight of Claire Danes in the front row wearing a lavender tank dress from his resort collection that was terribly similar to several he sent out for spring was not a great omen.There were fresh faces in the audience, thanks to the simultaneous launch of his menswear line, and an accompanying sense of anticipation. He delivered on that promise in his women's collection by dropping his skirt lengths a few inches below the knee and outfitting his models with a low wedge sandal. He's turned the page on strictly monochrome dresses, and he played with piecing shades together, like silver, violet, and brown linen stitched into one dress. Other harness-back coats and dresses looked familiar, as did strictly seamed suits, and all lacked the sex appeal that made loyal clients of Danes and Rachel Weisz in the first place.What did look fresh were his crystal-encrusted bodices and waistbands, and a pearl-covered net shell worn with a full voile skirt. In a season that's shaping up to be about rich, hand-worked details, these pieces made one long for more, in the form of some full-length gowns equally embellished and luxe.
12 September 2005
Paris Hilton, who sauntered into Narciso Rodriguez's show with Tinkerbell cradled in her arms, seems like an unlikely fan. She's way too flash for this designer's understated, architectural chic. But perhaps she gleaned something from Rodriguez's scuba-tight seamed constructions, something his many boldface followers already know: Covering up can be sexy. The proof is in his fabulous coats, from a pale-red double-face wool to a corseted herringbone style slashed almost fetishistically above the breasts to reveal the clothes or bare skin beneath.This wasn't one of Rodriguez's quieter shows. There was plenty of black and white, of course, but he continued to experiment with vivid color, showing even ankle boots and—in a departure from his signature stilettos—stacked-heel pumps in fuchsia suede. They added a jolt to even his strictest suit, which this season came in three pieces: a man's jacket, a slim skirt, and a fitted tank in place of the more traditional vest. In addition to tanks, bra tops and harnesses did double duty under cocktail dresses or, for aesthetic rather than structural effect, over coats. Another reinvention was the cut-above-the-bust bolero that Rodriguez showed in a cashmere blend, in microsequins, and finally in wool fleece over one of his wonderful, weightless gowns.
7 February 2005
Only in Narciso Rodriguez's precision-cut world could a few inches mean so much. But he's known as the man whose monochrome dresses leave barely enough room to breathe, so when Rodriguez opens his spring show with a loose, floaty pink frock, well, it's news.There was lots of news in this collection, all good. Maybe it's those trips to Brazil (his favorite vacation spot), but Rodriguez is definitely easing up. He still cuts like an architect—mapping the body's curves with careful arcs and parabolas—but now, the end result is warmer, sexier, easier. He used lightweight fabrics like papery silk, sheer cotton voile, linen, and nylon to construct lean trousers, trim jackets, neat skirts, and body-skimming tanks. And vivid color took it even further: turquoise, coral, pink, and light green danced amid crisp white and inky black.One of the week's most widespread trends has been the waistline's move upward, to mid-torso or even Empire level; Rodriguez has been doing that for a few seasons, but he hammered it home this time with mini-corsets and bra tops, sometimes layered atop each other, and A-line cuts that flared out above the ribs. His trimly tailored shorts, ending just above the knee, were a convincing argument for an otherwise questionable look. Rodriguez closed with a series of lovely, liquid silk dresses whose curving skirts rippled out behind the models like sails swaying in a gentle breeze. Dreamy.
13 September 2004
It’s not by chance that Narciso Rodriguez calls his meticulous jackets and dresses “constructed.” They’re cut, shaped, and sewn with a relentless attention to detail that might have made Mies van der Rohe reconsider his calling. But for fall, Rodriguez’s chilled-to-perfection, skintight dresses and suits got a bit warmer with the help of plush fabrics, a sprinkling of fluffy fur, and even (gasp) some ruffles.Never fear, Rodriguez followers: His signature body-hugging designs in monastic black or cream are still clearly the engine that drives the line and delights his front row (which included Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, and Claire Danes). But there’s a new sensuousness working its way into the intellectual exercise: Electric-blue piping streaks around the torso of a black dress; satin ribbon hugs the curves of a black pencil skirt; cozy little shrugs come in ballet-pink cashmere or a pouf of black shearling.While he showed a few slim trousers, Rodriguez loves skirts and dresses, and that’s where he really cut loose. Alongside his beloved pencil, there were flippy gored styles, ruffly satin cha-cha looks, and some lovely A-line pieces packed with rows of tiny lace ruffles. For evening, he twisted yards of sheer ribbon around the torsos of satin-skirted gowns; just the right wrapping for his smart, cool customers.
9 February 2004
As she watched the parade of models sway down the runway in Narciso Rodriguez’s sexy spring show, Julianna Margulies turned more than once to her front-row neighbor Stephanie Seymour and rolled her eyes in delirious delight. She wasn’t the only one. Inspired by Brazil, and especially the wild abandon of Carnival, Narciso Rodriguez sent out a collection that married his meticulously cool elegance to a steamy new sensuality.What’s become his signature look—skintight dresses, molded to every curve—was still the heart of the proceedings. But this season, Rodriguez warmed it up with earthy, textured fabrics like linen, washed silk, and crisp white cotton. He inserted sheer panels of tulle or simply cut out bits of the bodice for a glimpse of skin, and made a lattice of lingerie straps across the back. Slim pants were worn with trapeze jackets or tops whose swingy peplums perfectly emphasized the model’s own curves. True to form, the designer sent out a wealth of lovely evening gowns, made from fluttering parachute silk (a welcome change from the season’s ubiquitous chiffon) in black, violet, rose, white, and nude, gently detailed with pintucks, tulle, or a bit of beading.There may not have been any huge departure from the look he’s made so clearly his own, but Rodriguez designs according to his convictions, not the prevailing trends. Combined with his formidable talent, that relentless focus will keep his faithful customers very happy this spring.
15 September 2003
More streamlined than a Jaguar and perhaps even better at handling curves—that was Narciso Rodriguez’s gorgeous fall show, where the designer showed once again that cool and sexy can coexist in one collection.Rodriguez continued with the long, lean silhouette he showed in the spring, using rigorously precise cutting and tailoring to sculpt form-fitting dresses and suits. There were great examples of his whip-thin, athletic dresses, done in black or white with geometric accents detailing the hips and shoulders, as well as beautiful suits with skirts or slim pants that came just to the ankle. And while the lines were spare, there was luxury built into each piece, such as when the designer combined two or three fabrics in one outfit—velvet, silk and marocain, for example—for a play of textures.In a week where a lot of time has been spent looking back at the past, it was refreshing to see a show that had virtually no retro references; although clearly schooled in minimalism, Rodriguez has a fashion vocabulary all his own. He has also loosened up, just a bit. The silhouette had a bit more swing, in the form of a flaring black velour coat and some mesmerizingly floaty hems on a few dresses and skirts. His evening pieces were dazzlingly simple: cool columns of chiffon, matte silk and marocain, done in white or, for the last number, the coolest lavender silk, which breezed off the runway like a beautiful memory.
10 February 2003
Narciso Rodriguez, like several other designers, has been on a diet this past year. And as he’s slimmed, so have his clothes. The precise silhouette he’s been refining over the past few seasons has shrunk in for spring, hugging the body’s curves like a second, very elegant, skin.The heart of the collection was a dress constructed in sections: a pencil skirt, topped by a tightly defined midriff, sometimes in crisp cotton, sometimes in sheer jersey. There were variations for day, done in black and white, with insets of taupe jersey or bits of bright color that gave the look a distinctlysportiffeeling. Rodriguez occasionally threw on a minute jacket or Lilliputian sweater to play with the proportions, but he never strayed far from the center. There were luxe versions for nighttime, done in various kinds of silk and lightened with touches of floaty georgette. Another star of the night was a pink floor-length dress in heavy, creamy kimono silk that had the front row—Kyra Sedgwick, Julianna Margulies, a very pregnant Sarah Jessica Parker— oohing in admiration.In lesser hands, such single-minded devotion could have been monotonous. But Rodriguez is a master of subtle invention, and the collection’s charisma never flagged.
18 September 2002
A few days before his show, Narciso Rodriguez said that he had taken inspiration from the work of legendary designer Cristobal Balenciaga, who combined masterful tailoring with simple but elegant designs. And in the superb collection he showed tonight, Rodriguez demonstrated his ability to bring those elements to a modern wardrobe.Rodriguez kept the silhouette long and lean, contouring dresses and shirts to the body with clinging inset bodices and introducing an elongated tunic top. A minimalist by nature, his palette was white, black, cream, gray and gold, although there were—how shocking!—two blush-pink dresses. Boxy jackets with slightly rounded shoulders hung just to the waist of slightly flared, tailored trousers or knee-length pencil skirts; silky, fluid blouses wrapped loosely in front. Even Rodriguez's fur was restrained: He showed inky sheared mink pieces—a short jacket, a tunic, a narrow coat—that looked at first glance like particularly plush velvet.For evening Rodriguez raised the glamour quotient a hair by simply adding a whiff of beading to a satin shirt, or offering a heavy gold pencil skirt. And as if that weren't enough, he sent out a group of satin glamour dresses, each with its own version of a ruffle at the back. Restrained, refreshing and quite beautiful.
11 February 2002
In the world of Narciso Rodriguez, "trendy" is a dirty word. Avoiding gimmickry at all costs, Rodriguez relies on precise cutting and obsessive attention to detail to create a minimal—and lasting—elegance.With a nod, perhaps, to the almost ritualistic pleasure of getting dressed, Rodriguez showed cotton toile jackets and poplin cutout dresses fastened by rows of tiny eyelet hooks. His version of the classic white shirt was carefully seamed and paneled, turning it, in effect, into a light, fitted jacket. Transparency and layering were important themes: a crepe de chine U-neck dress really came to life when a wrap skirt was thrown over it. Rodriguez's most dramatic statement was a stunning glass tube short-sleeve dress, which seemed to reflect every light in the room.Anyone blessed with an accessories fetish knows that Rodriguez is currently producing some of the best shoes around. This season's sky-high, pointy ankle-strap stilettos are his best yet.
20 September 2001
Anyone who has felt New York fashion week needed a shot of fresh energy will be glad to know that Narciso Rodriguez is back to stay after his extended Milanese stint.Rodriguez showed one of his strongest collections in seasons, relying on deft tailoring, clean lines and meticulous attention to detail. A double-layered cotton and wool shift hugged the body and offered a peek-a-boo hint of red piping at the seams; tuxedo trousers were paired with a layered T-shirt, limpid button-down and stretch-wool jumper, all with the sleeves hacked off. A red fox coat appeared sumptuous and rich, yet faintly savage—think of the look as tough chic.Rodriguez’s evening dresses hinted at the loose, light silhouette of the 1920s, but there was nothing retro about his dangling chains and Swarovski crystals, metallic belts and stretch wool overlays. With his short, highly focused collection, Rodriguez proved that a few well-executed ideas are far more compelling and newsworthy than predictable gimmicks and flash-in-the-pan trends.
12 February 2001
Narciso Rodriguez's appeal lies in the restraint of his designs and in the luxurious, quiet materials he employs, and his Spring collection of well-cut, understated everyday basics was no exception. A sleeveless washed suede dress, for example, looked as if it could be worn straight out of bed; cotton poplin jackets with wide sleeves over shorts looked casual and relaxed; airy, masculine white shirts looked great with pleated trousers or a silver beaded skirt for extra lift. Other standouts included a coral silk crepe dress with a partial gather at the waistline, a double-face khaki silk trench, and a white leather and sequin off-the-shoulder top.Although the collection was perfectly chic and wearable, one can't help but wish that Rodriguez would take a leap and use his considerable talent to experiment with more adventurous ideas.
1 October 2000
Leave it to Narciso Rodriguez to create the perfect little dress. The Cuban-American designer's forte has always been adding a touch of edginess to simple, chic classics, and this season he proved that he is still ahead of the game in that department. Silk charmeuse formed the base of his collection--showing up on dresses and slips that were worn alone or layered, alluding to a sensual state of partial undress. Rodriguez hardened the mood with sharp, tailored leather coats and cashmere tweed dresses. There were also sleek, fitted cashmere trousers and sexy, curve-hugging T-shirts. Clever accessories completed the look: Rodriguez featured luxurious alligator bags, decadent mink booties and hefty chains worn as necklaces and bracelets.
21 February 2000
There were no unnecessary frills at Narciso Rodriguez, whose black and white collection relied on the strength of his precise cut, layered silhouettes and subtle beading. Grecian-inspired bias jersey dresses and tops looked refined and sexy, as did his ultra-thin mohair sweaters worn over gauze tops and sleek cotton trousers. Rodriguez artfully played with a variety of transparencies and forms to create an ethereal effect: Dresses were worn over each other, and beaded cashmere gowns were paired with bias slips. But there was also an edgier side to Rodriguez's show: Leather trenches, a dress decorated with staples and a few candy-colored tops confirmed that Rodriguez can successfully address his customers' needs for sophisticated dressing, while indulging their tough-girl chic cravings.
27 September 1999