Designer Fernando Garcia’s Fashion Career and Achievements

Fernando Garcia is a fashion designer. Since 2016, he has been co-creative director, along with Laura Kim, of Oscar de la Renta. The two fashion designers founded Monse, a separate fashion label, together in 2015.

Fernando grew up in the Dominican Republic, where television first exposed him to global fashion and made him aspire to a career as a designer. Following high school, Fernando earned a degree in architecture in the US in 2009. That same year he embarked on an internship with womenswear designer Oscar de la Renta, a creator of iconic eveningwear pieces. While at the label, he met and worked with fellow designer Laura Kim. Right away, Fernando saw that he and Laura were “the people in the room telling each other the harsh truths every single moment,” he says. The pair forged a harmonious working relationship and continue to play a large role in each other’s careers.

His childhood in the Caribbean inspired many of Fernando’s designs. He recommends approaching the design process like an ever-unfurling story. “The collection is going to tell you where it wants to go as you develop it,” he says.

Fernando Garcia is an accomplished fashion designer and stylist, making him a key figure in his industry.

• Early interest in fashion: As a child in the Dominican Republic, Fernando watched red-carpet premieres and star-studded awards shows with his mother, taking note of the way haute couture would change year by year. From an early age, his interest in global fashion led him to research designers like Nicolas Ghesquière, John Galliano, Alber Elbaz, and Tom Ford, seeking to understand their techniques and inspirations.
  
• Architectural degree: Believing a career in the fashion industry wasn’t possible, Fernando cast his paper-napkin clothing sketches aside after high school and dived into architecture school. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with an architectural degree, although his dressmaking dreams never faded.
• Introduction to Oscar de la Renta and Laura Kim: A family friend connected Fernando with Oscar de la Renta, and he leaped at the opportunity to intern with the beloved Dominican-born designer. Fernando joined the brand in 2009 as an intern, reporting to Laura Kim. This marked the beginning of a close professional relationship between the pair, establishing a spirit of collaboration that would span years.
• Launch of Monse: In 2015, Fernando and Laura launched their own label, Monse, a luxury fashion house that deconstructs menswear and classic tailoring. Celebrities embraced the fashion brand, including superstars Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, and Rihanna, as well as Hollywood actors Kerry Washington, Lupita Nyong’o, and Sienna Miller.
• Rise at Oscar de la Renta: In 2016, two years after Oscar de la Renta’s beloved founder and namesake passed away, Fernando and Laura became co-creative directors of the brand.
• Awards and recognition: Fernando and Laura graced the cover of the “Top Designers” issue for The Hollywood Reporter, a premier US entertainment magazine, in 2017. That same year, they also took home the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent at the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Fashion Awards ceremony.
• Continued success: As one of the chief creatives behind Oscar de la Renta, as well as the brand Monse, Fernando regularly dresses celebrities for premieres and awards shows. In 2021, Fernando and Laura dressed actor Sarah Jessica Parker for the premiere of the style-centric television program And Just Like That…. The design duo also created singer Billie Eilish’s 2021 dress for the Met Gala—the buzzy (and fashion-forward) benefit for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

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