Emilio Sosa (born February 23, 1967) is a

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

for Broadway and is the current Chair for the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

Board of Trustees in New York City. He is a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

nominated costume designer and is best known for his works Topdog/Underdog,

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play ''Porgy'', its ...

, and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark.

Early life

Emilio Sosa was born in

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

and grew up in South Bronx, New York City. His interest in fashion and design started at the age of 14. While attending school in Harlem, he spent his afternoons taking art and design classes at Manhattan's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street (Man ...

. Additionally, he took free classes Saturdays at

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

in Greenwich Village. He continued his passion for fashion design by attending Art and Design High School and

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

Career

Early career

While attending

, Emilio worked a part-time job at Grace Costumes as a shopper and eventually became its

Creative Director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

in 2006. His first design job out of college was as an assistant costume master for the

Alvin Ailey Dance Company The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate ar ...

, touring domestically and internationally. He made a name for himself by styling music videos for Hip Hop artists, such as

Salt-N-Pepa Salt-N-Pepa (also stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa or Salt 'N Pepa) is an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). Their debut album, '' Hot ...

MC Lyte Lana Michele Moorer (born October 11, 1970), better known by her stage name MC Lyte, is an American rap music, rapper, Disc jockey, DJ, actress and entrepreneur. Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, Lyte first gained fame in the late 19 ...

, and Kid Play. He later became an in-house stylist for director

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

as an assistant costume designer on his films

Bamboozled ''Bamboozled'' is a 2000 American satirical dark comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the resulting violent fallout from the show's suc ...

and Red Hook Summer.

Broadway / National Success

Discovered by director

George C. Wolfe George Costello Wolfe (born September 23, 1954) is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing '' Angels in America: Millennium Approaches'' and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction ...

, Emilio designed his first Broadway show, Topdog/Underdog. He continued to work on shows designed by Ann Hould-Ward, Geoffery Holder, Desmond Heely, Toni Leslie James, and Paul Tazewell. As well as going on tour as a designer for

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

, The

, and the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

with

Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter, composer, teacher, and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has promoted classical and jazz music, often to young audiences. Marsalis has won nine Grammy Awar ...

. In 2010, Emilio Sosa then went onto

Season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mate ...

, winning 5 challenges and being runner up in the finale episode. In 2012, he was runner up for Project Runway Allstars. He then went on to co-create the fashion line, Esosa Designs, with his brothers. Celebrities seen wearing Esosa Designs include

Wendy Williams Wendy Williams Hunter ( Wendy Joan Williams; born July 18, 1964) is an American broadcaster and writer. From 2008 to 2021, she hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show ''The Wendy Williams Show.'' Prior to television, Williams ...

, Taraji P. Henson, and

Uzo Aduba Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba (; born February 10, 1981) is an American actress. She gained wide recognition for her role as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren on the Netflix original series '' Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she won an ...

Honors & recognition

Emilio was the first designer of color to design the

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for th ...

Spring Spectacular and a new number in the 2018 Christmas show, starring

The Rockettes The Rockettes are an American precision dance company. Founded 1925 in St. Louis, they have, since , performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Until 2015, they also had a touring company. They are best known for starring in the R ...

. In 2005, he received the

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

for Outstanding Costume Design, Resident Production for the musical,

Señor Discretion Himself ''Señor'' ''Discretion Himself'' is a musical with book, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, adapted from the short story of the same name by Budd Schulberg. It was never completed before Loesser died in 1969, but it was revised and "completed" i ...

. He was announced as the 2003 Design Virtuoso in the American Theatre Magazine. His costume design work on By the Way, Meet Vera Stark received the Henry Hewes Award in 2011 and

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

. He was also awarded the LA Ovation Award for the musical Twist, the 2006 Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, and the 2015 NAACP Theatre Awards for the musical

. He has been nominated for a

in 2012 for Best Costume Design in a Musical for

, Best Costume Design in a Play for ''Trouble in Mind'', and the 2004

NAACP Theatre Award The NAACP Theatre Awards are a NAACP member voted awards started in 1991 and presented annually by the Beverly Hills-Hollywood branch of the NAACP to honor outstanding people of color in theater. The ceremonies usually take place in the Los Angele ...

for Best Costume Design for Topdog/Underdog. Emilio Sosa now sits as the Chair for the Board of Trustees for the

List of works

Plays

* Topdog/Underdog * Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill * By the Way, Meet Vera Stark *

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

* Crowns * Trust *

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

* The Misanthrope * Sex with Strangers * White Card * Ma Rainey's Black Bottom *

Ruined Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberat ...

* Twist * Fences *

Skeleton Crew A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item such as a business, organization, or ship at its most simple operating requirements. Skeleton crews are often utilized during an emergency and are meant to ...

* Frost/Nixon * Artney Jackson * Seize the King *

Sweat Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are dist ...

* Eve's Song * Man in the Ring * The Light * Do You Feel Anger? *

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

* The Way She Spoke * Make Believe * The Hot Wing King * 72 Miles To Go * Trouble in Mind (

Nomination)

Musicals

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

* ON YOUR FEET! * ExtraOrdinary * MOTOWN: The Musical *

(

Nomination) * Me and My Girl * Invisible Thread * The Capeman *

Miss You Like Hell ''Miss You Like Hell'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and music and lyrics by Erin McKeown. The show follows a troubled teenage girl who embarks on a cross-country road trip with her estranged mother, who is an undocum ...

* The Scottsboro Boys * Shout Sister Shout!

Other performances / Film

- 2018 Christmas Show * Red Hook Summer * Radio City New York Spectacular * New York Knicks City Dancers

List of Theatres Worked For

* Mark Taper Forum Theatre *

Long Wharf Theatre Long Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared. Fou ...

* The American Repertory Theatre Production *

Ahmanson Theatre The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center. History The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., an insurance and savings an ...

Geffen Playhouse The Geffen Playhouse (or the Geffen) is a not-for-profit theater company founded by Gilbert Cates in 1995. It produces plays in two theaters in Geffen Playhouse, which is owned by University of California Los Angeles. The Playhouse is located ...

Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...

Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the ...

* McCarter Theater *

Roundabout Theatre Company The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth ...

Appearances

Working in the Theatre ''Working in the Theatre'' is the American Theatre Wing’s documentary series created to highlight the theatre industry's inner-workings. The series profiles notable members of the industry, and provides a closer look at unique stories and importa ...

- Costumes - 2015 * Behind the Scenes Show:

The Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

- 2016 * Live from the Red Carpet: The

2016 Tony Awards The 70th Annual Tony Awards were held on June 12, 2016, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2015–16 season. The ceremony temporarily returned to the Beacon Theatre in New York City after three years at Radio City Music ...

* Live from the Red Carpet: The

2015 Tony Awards The 69th Annual Tony Awards were held on June 7, 2015, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2014–15 season. The ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and broadcast live by CBS.Gioia, Michael"This Ye ...

* Project Runway All Stars - 2012-2014 * Project Runway Season 7 - 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosa, Emilio American costume designers American fashion designers People from Santo Domingo People from the Bronx Parsons School of Design alumni Pratt Institute alumni High School of Art and Design alumni 1967 births Living people Project Runway (American series) participants