Francisco Costa (designer)

Francisco Costa
Francisco Costa and Nicole Trunfio at the Vanity Fair party for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	(1964-05-10) May 10, 1964 (age 52) Minas Gerais, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Education	Fashion Institute of Technology
Occupation	Fashion designer
Awards	Cooper-Hewitt National Fashion Design Award, 2009, Council of Fashion Designers America Womenswear Designer of the Year, 2006 and 2008

Francisco Costa (born 10 May 1964) is a Brazilian designer and the Women's Creative Director of Calvin Klein Collection. Costa won the Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) award for Womenswear Designer of the Year in June 2006 as well as in June 2008. Costa also won the National Design Award in 2009 in the category of Fashion Design.

Costa is the second youngest of five children. He grew up in Guarani, Brazil, where his mother, Maria-Francisca, owned a children's wear factory. She began her business producing dresses commissioned by a traveling salesman. Costa's father, Jacy Neves da Costa, ran a small ranch. In his hometown of 8,000 people, Costa put on fashion shows for charities. His size is compact and he has brown eyes. Being civic minded by nature, his mother was like the mayor of the town. She presided over her family. Costa remembers there being fifteen people at his family's lunch table.

Following his mother's death in 1981, he left with a friend for New York City in 1985. He was twenty-one and spoke no English at the time. He enrolled in a language class at Hunter College and took courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology at night. He obtained employment with Herbert Rounick, whose Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) company made dresses for Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass. Costa went to work for de la Renta after Rounick's death, designing for the firm's Japanese licenses. Costa credits de la Renta with teaching him the most about both designing clothes and life. He remained with the company for five years.

Klein's partner, Barry Schwartz, brought Costa's name to Klein's attention in 2001. Costa became the principal designer for the women'sCalvin Klein Collection at the age of 39, in September 2003. Earlier in the year Klein sold his company to Phillips-Van Heusen for approximately $730 million. Costa joined the Klein design group in 2001 after working for Gucci, where he was an assistant to Tom Ford. Their first collaboration is known as the Cher Collection. Costa was mentioned as a possible replacement when Ford retired from designing for Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, in late 2003.