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Isabel Toledo, the Cuban-American designer who was venerated by other designers for her ability to combine geometric construction with extreme grace – but who was known to the general public as the designer of the dress that Michelle Obama wore at the inaugural parade of 2009 – died on Monday in a Manhattan hospital. She was 59 years old.
The cause was breast cancer, said her husband, the artist Ruben Toledo.
Disinterested in the spotlight or logos, Ms. Toledo was a rarity in the world of modern fashion. Devoted to fashion as a craft and self-expression and part of the downtown New York art scene, it was a step back from a time when the designer became the creative director. She was working in a quaint loft in downtown Manhattan with Mr. Toledo, her partner since high school, immersing herself in the worlds of art, dance and theater for the sheer pleasure of a collaborative aesthetic.
Called a genius by Valerie Steele, curator of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and a cult hero of Kim HastreiterFounder of Paper magazine, Ms. Toledo was compared to designers Charles James and Geoffrey Beene because of her obsession with construction. She described her own work as "romantic mathematics".
"I'm not supposed to say I'm not a fashion person, but I'm not. I love design, "she told CNN in 2012." Design is so different from fashion. That's why the design lasts forever. It's like an engineer. I like to create a garment.
Ms. Toledo was the recipient of a National Design Award by Cooper Hewitt Museum in 2005, was nominated for a Tony for the costumes of the musical "After Midnight" in 2014, and appeared twice on the international list of the best costumes.
In 2009, the museum of F.I.T. organized a solo retrospective of his work. But she has never been snubbed by her vocation, excited by the idea that her work can reach a wider audience through her position as creative director of Anne Klein from 2006 to 2007 and her collections for Lane Bryant, created at a time when the fashion world largely ignored the plus size consumer.
"Fashion is the language of every woman, her tool," she said. Interview magazine in 2014 when his Lane Bryant collections debuted. "My ideal is diversity. I like the difference. I like change. I like experiences and eccentricities. She also embodied her own ideals: her favorite training was to twist with a hula. hoop.
Maria Isabel Izquierdo was born on April 9, 1960 in Camajuani (Cuba) for Felix and Bertha Izquierdo. She started sewing at age 8 because, she told CNN, "I could not find anything I liked".
She emigrated to the United States with her parents and two sisters. In 1968, the family moved to New York, New Jersey, where they met Mr. Toledo. She was 14 years old and he was 13 years old (his family was also Cuban, they were taking the same Spanish course at school.)
She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and was transferred to the Parsons School of Design. She left in 1979 before graduating to do an internship at Diana Vreeland at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She and Mr. Toledo – who were almost never separated and who seemed to have the kind of transcendent love story reserved for Hollywood movies – married in 1984. He survives with two sisters, Mary Santos and Anna Bertha Izquierdo.
Also in 1984, Ms. Toledo presented her own line, made largely in the attic of the couple. His first appearance was at a danceteria event, thanks to the artist Joey Arias, a good friend, who led the events. Although she officially became a member of New York Fashion Week in 1985 and her clothes were quickly taken over by Barneys New York, Colette in Paris, Joyce in Hong Kong and Ikram in Chicago, among others, she did not never lost it. affinity for the raw edge.
She also remained at the helm of an independent company. "Isabel was a pure and uncorrupted fashion designer," said Ikram, founder of Ikram, who introduced Ms. Toledo's work to Mrs. Obama. "She designed spectacular and innovative pieces that flattered every curve of a woman's body, and she never adhered to the" fashion system "nor did she accept it."
Although this choice may have been detrimental to Ms. Toledo's business in recent years, fashion is globalizing and becoming commonplace – she stopped on the podium at the turn of the millennium when the cost became prohibitive – it also allowed her to follow his example.
In 2009, when Mrs. Obama chose a Toledo dress and a matching coat for her husband's historic inauguration, a dress that was widely advertised as a triumph and that helped frame the first lady signing his post to promote small American creators and celebrate the melting pot of America – it seemed that the world finally recognized the gift of Mrs. Toledo.
In 2012, she published her autobiography entitled "Roots of Style: Weaving Together Life, Love and Fashion". The illustrations were made by Mr. Toledo, of course.
"She was often marginalized by the fashion industry, which likes trends, but she never looked to the side," Hastreiter wrote in an email. But, she said, "her rare gift of combining superb design for all women (regardless of economic class, shape and size), impeccable craftsmanship and amazing original creative beauty" means that "Isabel Toledo will appear in the history books ".
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