You can never go home again—or so the saying goes. For Robert Rodriguez, it turns out New York was never really in the rearview mirror.
The FIT-trained designer cut his teeth at Christian Dior in Paris and New York, working across three defining chapters of the house: from Marc Bohan through Gianfranco Ferré and into the early days of John Galliano. It was an education in craft, rigor and the relentless pace of fashion that would stay with him.
His career subsequently took him west to Los Angeles, with stints at Laundry by Shelli Segal and the launch of his namesake collection in 2003, and back east for a turn at Halston.
Now, Rodriguez is firmly planted in New York once again, this time at the creative helm of Derek Lam and preparing for his second New York Fashion Week presentation for the house.
The CFDA caught up with the designer ahead of Spring 2027 as he puts his stamp on a familiar New York name—and considers what the Derek Lam woman wants from her wardrobe now.
Rodriguez joined Derek Lam in November 2025 following the departure of its founder and a brief pause for the business. His first collection, Fall 2026, bowed at New York Fashion Week in February and lands this month on the brand’s newly revamped website, according to president Danielle Alalu.
The latest chapter also comes with a streamlined proposition: Derek Lam and Derek Lam 10 Crosby have been brought together under one label.
For Rodriguez, the assignment had a certain symmetry. He and Lam launched their respective namesake businesses in 2003 and knew each other through the CFDA. Rather than reinvent the house, Rodriguez began by looking backward in order to move it forward.
“I studied the codes to continue that brand legacy and infused a renewed sense of purpose and point of view because fashion and silhouettes change,” Rodriguez said. “For me, it was more about bringing it to the present and imagining what he would be doing with it.”
Central to that exercise is the New York woman—or, more specifically, the realities of her life.
“We design for a woman with a career who lives in New York,” he said. “She’s inspired by discovering different things. It’s about purpose and where she is in her life today; how clothes function for her. Is she traveling? Working? On vacation?”
Spring 2027 will push that conversation forward. Rodriguez said the collection is slated to be shown in a gallery-like space in West Chelsea and teased a season built around “new beginnings.”
“Spring feels like discovery and new things growing,” he said. “We have amazing things upcoming.”
The city itself is once again part of Rodriguez’s creative language. After years of commuting between coasts, he has settled on the Upper West Side—“quiet living,” as he calls it—following earlier New York chapters on the Upper East Side and in SoHo and Greenwich Village.
If New York supplies the energy, Los Angeles gave Rodriguez a different kind of design vocabulary. His namesake label, which became known early on for an embellished knit shrug, was born from the collision of those sensibilities, with a dose of Parisian polish thrown in.
“LA is very laid-back and relaxed. Working in LA, coming from New York with the experience of Paris, felt a bit eclectic,” he said. “New York is always more exciting; it’s more tailored and aligned with my design aesthetic.”
The mix proved potent, quickly putting his label on the fashion map.
“New York challenges me, and LA is a little bit more relaxed, sleepy. I’m grateful for that; both have given me an incredible career at different times, offering different things,” he said.
But these days, Rodriguez is clearly feeding off the velocity of New York.
“Being back feels natural. Every walk offers inspiration. I love architecture, restaurants, people, fashion, street fashion; it’s part of my DNA,” he said. “It inspires me and makes me feel creative because I love exploring new ideas.”
That full-circle return also has Rodriguez thinking about fashion’s next generation—and the value of learning the business from the inside before going it alone.
“One of the things I would express to young designers who are just graduating would be to learn the craft working for an established label,” he said. “Dior is where I learned my craftsmanship as well as the pace of the fashion industry here in New York.”
For Rodriguez, that first New York education has turned out to have a particularly long tail.
“That’s where my career began,” he said. “I spent many years in New York, so it feels like I never left.”
