Top Latin American Fashion Designers

Throughout the year we hear news from the best catwalks around the world, read in magazines about new trends and on Instagram we don't get tired of giving "likes" to the photos we love. Everything is beautiful Paris, Milan, London, and NYC, European fashion designers are perhaps the most prominent in fashion news, magazines, and blogs. 

Only sometimes we forget that fashion has a variety of cultures, colors, and design proposals. And today at LookStyler we want to talk to you about Latin American design, so we've decided to take a trip to the other side of the world.

Fashion in Latin America is as varied as its social structure and for decades some Latin designers have left a legacy in the global fashion industry. Today we share a list of historical designers and new talents.

Óscar de la Renta (Dominican Republic) 

Without a doubt, the first name that comes to mind, the designer born in Santo Domingo is one of the most influential fashion designers in history. He became famous in the 1960s for dressing first lady Jackie Kennedy and began with a great legacy in history, his name is not only known in Latin America, the name of Oscar de la Renta means elegance, history and culture.

Isabel Toledo (Cuba)

Isabel Toledo is undoubtedly one of the greatest designers in the history of Latin fashion, obsessed with pattern structures, and Toledo forms described her work as "mathematical romantics". Isabel Toledo had an education in one of the most prestigious fashion schools in the world, at the Fashion Institute of Technology. 

In 2005 she received the National Design Award, had a successful career and was acclaimed by top fashion critics. In 2008 she dressed Michelle Obama in president Barack Obama's inauguration.

Carolina Herrera (Venezuela)

Talking about Latin fashion without the name Carolina Herrera would not make sense. Although it is true that part of her career and successes were achieved outside her country, the name Carolina Herrera represents Latin American fashion. Her elegant and timeless style led her to position her brand as one of the best in Latin America, like Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera designed dresses for the first lady Jackie Kennedy.

Narciso Rodriguez  (Cuba)

Narciso Rodriguez is a designer of Cuban origin. known in the fashion world for its purist aesthetics, After studying fashion design at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York, she worked with Donna Karan at Anne Klein and later Calvin Klein. In October 1997 Narciso Rodriguez began his own firm. And in 1998 she presented her first collection at Milan Fashion Week. Years later he was in charge of the creative direction of the Loewe brand. He is one of the most important designers and one of the representatives of minimalist fashion. He designed her friend Carolyn Bessette's wedding dress for her marriage to John F. Kennedy Jr.

Miguel Mesa Posada (Colombia)

While we have talked about classic and historical designers, there are names that deserve to be mentioned in this list. One of them is that the designer Miguel Mesa Posada known as "the fashion anthropologist" himself describes his work as an intense search for answers on Latin American interpretations of truth/wealth/beauty through apparel experimentation.

Historical fiction and facts are a basis for recreating a conversation between the present and the past. Miguel is mainly inspired by his native Colombia, field life, and the historical value of archaeology.

Carla Fernandez (México)

With an extraordinary vision, focused on Mexican origin and cultural wealth, Carla Fernández is one of the designers who could not stay off this list. A sustainable fashion brand characterized by working together with Mexican artisans and indigenous communities. Its design is based on traditional geometric shapes, organic materials, and processing techniques from all over the country. In 2008, during London Fashion Week, she was named "young fashion entrepreneur". Carla not only represents an avant-garde style of Mexican fashion but is the spokesperson for a culture, a nation, and all those artisans who color her creations.

Sebastian del Real Ossa (Chile) 

Perhaps the designer with fewer reflectors of this list, a designer completely "unknown" to many, but with one of the freshest and most innovative proposals in Latin American fashion. Born in Santiago de Chile and raised in a loving family, Sebastian began his love of fashion thanks to his mother whom he has defined on different occasions, as his greatest inspiration. Sebastian del Real Ossa started with his brand in 2005, with the aim of creating refined women's costumes for exclusive clients, one of the most interesting features of the brand is that his collections continue to be made in the workshop of his house and he himself has mentioned that his mother is part of the creative process.