Fabiola Arias is a

Cuban American Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States after Mexican Americans, Stateside ...

fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...

based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Early life and education

Arias was born on June 19, 1987, in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

. Her mother is Cuban designer Anilu Oms, from whom Arias learned the art of design. Arias has incorporated her mother's

Fascinator A fascinator is a formal wear, formal headpiece, a style of Hatmaking, millinery. Since the 1990s, the term has referred to a type of formal headwear worn as an alternative to the hat; it is usually a large decorative design attached to a band ...

headpieces into her collection. Arias also cites the influence of her father, a journalist with a love of 1950s

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, in her designs. Arias attended high school at

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Design and Architecture High School Design and Architecture Senior High School (DASH) is a magnet secondary school in the heart of the Design District in Miami, Florida, United States. '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked DASH as the 15th best public high school in the nation i ...

. She cites the influence of her painting, drawing and sculpture studies as major influences in her design work. In Fall 2006, Arias moved to New York City to attend the Parsons where she studied Fashion Design. As a student, Arias interned for

Narciso Rodriguez Narciso Jesus Rodriguez III (; born January 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer. Early life and education Rodriguez was born in Newark, New Jersey, the eldest child and only son of Cuban parents. His parents, Narciso Rodríguez Sanchez II, ...

and

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

Career

In 2008, while still a senior at Parsons, Arias started her own company. The first store to pick up her line was

Ikram Ikram is a unisex given name and surname. Surname *Aamir Ikram (born 1960), Pakistani cricketer *Muhammed Ikram (born 1988), Pakistani footballer *Nassar Ikram SI(M), an active two-star ranked Pakistan's Naval official *S. M. Ikram (1908–1973), ...

in Chicago. After graduating Parsons, Arias presented her first collection during

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...

. Her presentation won her a contract with

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

where her Spring 2010 gowns were placed in their couture salon. Neiman Marcus featured one of Arias's gowns on their March 2010 catalogue cover. The collection is now carried in eight Neiman Marcus couture salons across the country. In 2009, Arias won a sponsorship from the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese designer incubator Shinmai Creator's Project. Only four designers are chosen each year from around the world. The jury was the President and Representative Director of Chanel in Japan, Chief Editor of the Elle Magazine Paris and the President of Issey Miyake. Winning the sponsorship allowed her to present her Fall 2011 collection at Japan Fashion Week in Tokyo. In 2011

Fashion Group International The Fashion Group International (FGI) is a global, non-profit, professional organization founded in 1930 in New York City to benefit the fashion industry. FGI currently has over 5000 members in the fashion industry including apparel, accessories, b ...

awarded Arias with the "Rising Star" award in their

Womenswear Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

category. Arias won

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

's Gold Coast award when she presented her Fall 2011 collection in front of an audience of 1,300 at the

Hilton Chicago Hilton Chicago (previously known as Chicago Hilton and Towers from 1985 to 1998) is a centrally-located luxury hotel in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The hotel is a Chicago landmark that overlooks Grant Park, Lake Michigan, and the Museum C ...

Vanidades ''Vanidades'' (Spanish for ''Vanities'') is one of the most popular Spanish language women's magazines. Published by Editorial Televisa across the United States and Hispanic America, it was launched in Cuba in February 1937 by Editorial Carteles ...

honored Arias at their Icons of Style Gala as Best Young Designer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arias, Fabiola 1987 births Living people People from Havana American women fashion designers American fashion designers Cuban emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women artists