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Joseph Altuzarra: A Reason To Look Forward To Fashion Week

January 28, 2009 4:14 pm

Joseph Altuzarra’s résumé may be short, but it packs a solid one-two-three punch: six-month internship at Marc Jacobs, freelance design assistant for Proenza Schouler, and former assistant to New York’s premier modéliste Nicolas Caito. That’s the CV in a nutshell, which all leads up to part four: designer for his eponymous line launched for Spring 2009. Given his pedigree, it should come as no surprise that Altuzarra’s name has emerged as fashion’s new one to know. Yet the designer himself is still nonplussed by the attention. “I never planned to work in fashion,” explains Altuzarra, who was born and raised in France and moved to the U.S. to study at Swarthmore. “I was an art history major who sent his résumé to Marc Jacobs on a whim. I feel like I’ve spent the past few years playing catch-up, learning what goes into making a dress.” Clearly, the 25- year-old designer is a quick study. Fashion’s inner circles championed his first collection, which he showed privately last season. Now Altuzarra is going public. He’ll be staging his fashion week debut with a presentation on February 16. “Mostly I’m continuing to develop ideas I started for Spring,” says Altuzarra of the upcoming collection. “I’m a real child of the nineties in that I look to designers like Helmut Lang and Jil Sander for inspiration. They never got into anything too theme-y. It was all about making clothes that were just functional and attractive. I like working that way.” His favorite compliment comes via his clientele: when a woman says a dress makes her feel beautiful. The trick to making clothes that boost confidence, he notes, is often in the cut. “You know, a dress can be constructed in such a way that it literally makes the person wearing it stand up straighter,” he says. As for the designer himself, he’s getting a shot of confidence from his collaborators this season—fellow talented up-and-comer Eddie Borgo is designing jewelry for the presentation, and Fall 2009 marks the debut of Altuzarra for Gianvito Rossi shoes. “I like working with people who are at the start of their careers,” says Altuzarra. “That way, it’s not like anyone’s doing you a favor. And you all get to grow up and succeed together.”