MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban designer Isabel Toledo was born in Camajuaní, in the province of Villa Clara, in 1961 and immigrated to New York at an early age. Since her beginnings in the fashion industry, in 1985, her name began to resonate and she reached maximum popularity in 2008, when Michelle Obama chose one of her designs for Barack Obama’s inauguration.
With her own style and unique personality, Toledo always refused to be part of catwalks or similar events. Instead, he presented his shows in museums. Throughout her career, she has been recognized with awards such as the Couture Council Award and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award from the Smithsonian Museum.
Her love for design began at an early age in Cuba, where she learned to sew at the age of eight. Toledo said in an interview with CNN in 2012: “I’m not supposed to say I’m not a fashionable person, but I’m not… I love design.”
After moving to the United States, she honed her craft at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Parsons School of Design, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, where she interned for Diana Vreeland.
Toledo met her husband, illustrator Rubén Toledo, in high school in New Jersey. Together, they made a great team both personally and professionally, being recognized with the Cooper Hewitt National Fashion Design Award in 2005 and the Fashion Visionary Award in 2006. Their most recent work, Labor and Love, was an exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) where they displayed sculptures, paintings and drawings inspired by the DIA.
Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of the FIT Museum, said of Toledo: “Isabel Toledo was a brilliant fashion designer. I first met her in 1990 and immediately felt that she was an original and inspiring designer, and a beautiful person.”
Her focus on design rather than fashion is reflected in her words: “I am fascinated by everything if I have to think: How do I sew this fabric? What am I saying with the fabric? It has nothing to do with ‘How does it look?’”.
In addition to her work in haute couture, Toledo also designed more accessible items, such as a series of boots, court shoes, flats and bags for discount chain Payless.
Toledo died prematurely at age 59, due to breast cancer.
