Isabel Toledo, Designer for Michelle Obama, Dies at 59
Isabel Toledo, the fashion designer who outfitted former first lady Michelle Obama for President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, died Monday at age 59. Toledo’s husband Ruben said the cause of death was breast cancer.
The Cuban-born Toledo gained international fame when Michelle Obama wore her lemongrass dress and matching coat to Barack Obama’s first inauguration in January 2009.
Toledo began sewing when she was 8 years old and emigrated to the United States as a young teen. She attended both the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design in New York City, but left to intern for Diana Vreeland at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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“I’m not supposed to say I’m not a fashion person, but I’m not. I just, I love design,” she told CNN in 2012. “Design is so different than fashion. That’s why design lasts forever. It’s like an engineer. I love to engineer a garment.”
Toledo and her husband collaborated on her early collections. In 2006, she was named creative director for Anne Klein, but left the company the following year. In 2014, she created a line of plus-size apparel for Lane Bryant.
The designer’s passing was mourned by the fashion community.
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Elle magazine editor and “Project Runway” judge Nina Garcia called Toledo a “rainbow of talent of joy.”
The fashion world has lost today a rainbow of talent and joy. RIP my friend Isabel Toledo. You and your husband Ruben inspired of all us. You created magic and showed us how love is the most powerful tool to create fantasy. Today is a sad day (1/2) pic.twitter.com/3oFz8t1cWe
– Nina Garcia (@ninagarcia) August 26, 2019
Fashion designer Peter Som described her as “a fashion idol of mine and many.”
#rip #IsabelToledo a fashion idol of mine and many. True kindness and true amazing amazing amazing talent. ???”??'” pic.twitter.com/rneJ5xcCWe
– Peter Som (@PeterSom) August 26, 2019
Prabal Gurung called her a “designer’s designer.”
We will miss her brilliance, her talent and grateful for the legacy left behind. A designer’s designer #isabeltoledo will be remembered forever. https://t.co/nWrw7CD25Z
– Prabal Gurung (@prabalgurung) August 26, 2019
Read original story Isabel Toledo, Designer for Michelle Obama, Dies at 59 At TheWrap
