Cuban designer Isabel Toledo dies

August 27, 2019

Yesterday, August 26th, the fashion world mourns once again to bid farewell to one of the great designers of recent decades, Isabel Toledo.

According to various U.S. media outlets, the Cuban designer has passed away at the age of 59 in a hospital in the Manhattan district of New York, due to breast cancer, as confirmed by her husband Rubén Toledo.

The Cuban designer always had the support of her husband and illustrator Rubén Toledo

According to her biography, she was born in Cuba in 1960 and emigrated at an early age to New York City, where she began dedicating herself to sewing. In 1985 she presented her first collection and although in the following years her name was beginning to resonate in the industry, she would not reach maximum popularity until 2008, the year in which Michelle Obama chose one of her designs for Barack Obama's presidential inauguration.

A lime green dress with a matching coat that received excellent reviews, and that left an imprint in the memory of millions of people.

"The most important thing was finding the right fabric. Finally I decided on a wool lace (…) For my team and for me it was very important that it be warm. I didn't want Michelle to freeze for anything in the world. I wanted the coat to be comfortable for the First Lady, for her to feel like a friend was hugging her, while also feeling that she could move naturally, gesture and speak," the designer explained at that moment.

Toledo chose the lime color because she wanted to convey a message of change and hope. After that moment, Toledo dressed Michelle Obama on various occasions.

From that moment on, Toledo began to be recognized with awards such as the Couture Council Award or the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, granted by the Smithsonian Museum.

With personality and her own style, since her beginnings in the 1990s she has always rejected being part of fashion shows or events of that kind, presenting her collections in museums. Despite this, for a brief period of time she held the creative direction of Anne Klein.

An icon in the textile field who from when she was barely a teenager had the unconditional support of her husband, the renowned illustrator Rubén Toledo. Not only in the personal sphere but also as a couple, forming a great team in the professional field; they were recognized with the Cooper Hewitt National Fashion Design Award in 2005 and the Fashion Visionary Award, founded in 2006 by Roosevelt to promote design in the U.S.

The most recent work and also one of the most outstanding by the couple was Labor and Love, an exhibition held at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) museum, where they displayed sculptures, paintings and drawings that they had created taking the DIA as inspiration.

The talent of the Cuban designer will always be highlighted in the fashion world and despite her departure, the mark she has left on the industry will endure over time.