“I’ve never really told my story,” Robert Rodriguez said in the new Halston offices on Manhattan’s West Side by Hudson Yards. Like the once-iconic Halston Olympic Towers studio on Fifth Avenue, this showroom’s perimeter is lined with tall windows providing clear views of the Empire State, and the skyline was so crisp on the clear September day I came to visit, it almost seemed like a real-life wallpaper.

Mr. Rodriguez started his new post as current chief creative director for the iconic American brand in 2019, but his story begins decades ago when he and his family immigrated to the United States from his native Havana, Cuba. He was five years old.

“We were on the last Freedom Flight to Miami,” the designer recalled. From 1956 to 1973, these flights known in Spanish as Los vuelos de la Libertad transported Cubans to Miami twice daily, five times per week, and brought in an estimated 300,000 refugees under President Lyndon Johnson.

Growing up and assimilating to a new world wasn’t always the easiest. Without any English, Rodriguez often felt lonely but found solace in his newfound passion – fashion and sketching. His mother, owner of a clothing factory, inspired his love of clothes and even gifted the designer a Christian Dior book (which he lovingly refers to as his Bible) at 15 years old.

Fate would have it prophesied that after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Mr. Rodriguez’s first job was at Dior under then-artistic director for the global fashion house Marc Bohan where he remained at the Maison and also got to work under notable and acclaimed designers Gianfranco Ferré and John Galliano.

Following Dior, he accepted a position as design director for Laundry by Shelli Segal in Los Angeles and took a leap into a whole new territory and wave of design for seven years: contemporary clothing. It wasn’t until 2003 that he decided to open his own company out of his house with only a patternmaker and two sewers.

In an uncanny and ironic parallel to Roy Halston, Robert Rodriguez’s namesake label found much success, and he sold his company and name to the Jones Group in 2012. But unlike the former cautionary tale, he was able to buy it back and relaunched in an exclusive deal with Barneys New York until the brick-and-mortar closed doors for good.

In 2019, he got the call from Halston at Groupe JS International.

“Halston was always influential to me because he was the American designer, created luxury sportswear, and was so ahead of his time.” said Rodriguez. “If I wanted to do something going forward, I wanted to do Halston because I wanted to bring it back to life. Not so much look at what he’s done in the past, but more of what he would have done if he were here today.”

Cue in the reemergence of Roy Halston’s story with Netflix series by Director Ryan Murphy and the Halston x Netflix capsule collection, all which Mr. Rodriguez played a part in.

He’s now blazing his own trails at the brand, like returning to the Met Gala by dressing chef Sophia Roe and reincorporating a ready-to-wear collection for the brand – both of which only happened while Roy Halston was still alive. But the ultimate cosign comes from Halston’s former in-house model, muse, and famed Halstonette Chris Royer, whom Mr. Rodriguez talks to every Sunday to get raw glimpses from the source on the true stories and life of the late icon.

“Who would think that I would carry on Halston’s legacy? That someone from a small island could come to this country and end up at the helm of one of the most iconic American designers,” said Rodriguez. “The Cuban people have noticed, and they are proud to know that there is a Cuban designer behind a brand.”

The designer credits his success to persistence, staying true to himself and overcoming the fear of exposing himself as a creative person and artist. The years of finding refuge in his sketchbook have proven worthwhile, he reminisces with joyful chuckles on the timid child he once was. “If it wasn’t for fashion, I wouldn’t have a life.”

Editor’s Note: This feature is part of an ongoing editorial series celebrating Latinxs in fashion during National Latinx Heritage Month.  Click here to access the series.