I got to train with some of the best and have critics like Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein. As a student under Calvin Klein, my project was to make a coat, and then years later, I was hired at Calvin, by Calvin, to design coats for him. It came full circle!

Narciso Rodriguez

I love the scent of jasmine, honeysuckle, and orange blossom. They remind me of gardens and visits to the ocean I would make as a boy.

Narciso Rodriguez

No scent is more sensual or more memorable to me than musk.

Narciso Rodriguez

You may grow very quickly the first two years and then watch the business decline, unless you really start selling product at any price range with various degrees of quality.

Narciso Rodriguez

I think more and more that I get to challenge myself and kind of raise the standard for myself every season. Even the term 'fashion' is about change. It's about newness. And what that newness means is different every 10 years, every five years.

Narciso Rodriguez

My personal style is relaxed.

Narciso Rodriguez

When I graduated from Parsons School of Design, the dean at that time said I would never be a designer. Obviously I didn't listen.

Narciso Rodriguez

I realize that I live in the same environment that I did when I was a kid, but with less junk and better art.

Narciso Rodriguez

I'm a great fan of Bloomingdale's, and I'm a very loyal alumni of Parsons. I think what they do, what they've done, is amazing. They've educated some of the best American designers.

Narciso Rodriguez

My parents never understood why I didn't want to be a doctor or lawyer. They're Cuban immigrants who wanted to give their children the American dream, and, to them, that was more of what 'the dream' entailed.

Narciso Rodriguez

Because I'm so hands on here at work and always looking at fabrics you have to be mobile and as comfortable as possible.

Narciso Rodriguez

When I was about 13, I met the coolest, chicest young woman I had ever seen. She was a neighbor of mine who became a fashion designer and had a small design studio. She taught me so many things about style and fashion. I had always loved making things, so when she told me about her career in fashion, I knew I had found my path.

Narciso Rodriguez

Once winter sets in I must have the sun and warmth. I need to be in the sun - I'm a true island baby.

Narciso Rodriguez

I went to Parsons, and I interned with Ronen when I was at Parsons. We started our own company since then.

Narciso Rodriguez

It's so great to see a woman dressed in jeans and a lace-up boot with an extraordinary jacket. It's a moment where you do want to mix high and low, and it's not so much about a head-to-toe designer look.

Narciso Rodriguez

Latin men love Latin women, it is part of the culture, we celebrate women in a very special way and I think that is present in my work. I do it by making them beautiful, sensual.

Narciso Rodriguez

I was always fascinated by graphic art and typography and architecture. And so I was constantly cutting things and making blocks and making buildings out of shoeboxes.

Narciso Rodriguez

Many of my clients have become close friends, and that informs the clothing I design for them. Julianna Margulies was introduced to me by her publicist many years ago, and we've been good friends ever since.

Narciso Rodriguez

I owe my career to Latina women. I was surrounded by the amazing group: my mother, my aunts, my extended family. They didn't necessarily have access to high fashion, but they had great style and looked stunning naturally at every age.

Narciso Rodriguez

There's a spirit of Latina women in all of my work, in the love of the body and the strong sense of self.

Narciso Rodriguez

I love boliche, roasted pig, and black beans and rice. When I need a quick fix, I head to Cafe Cortadito on Avenue B and 3rd here in New York City.

Narciso Rodriguez