A biography for Francisco Costahasn’t been written yet.
“If you have beautiful knees, show your knees. I'm not a puritan. I love skin.”
“The bottom line is that red carpet helps us broaden the appeal of the brand. Calvin Klein used to be about a very specific woman, but we've dressed so many different women at awards.”
“You think 24-7 when you're a creative person. And I find pleasure in everything - if I'm in a flea market, I'm there on my downtime, but I'm also there searching for the collection. I don't separate the two.”
“I do go back to Brazil once a year. I miss my family.”
“Right after high school, I moved to Rio and took classes to become a technician for a manufacturing factory where you had to figure out how to produce 3,000 pairs of jeans. But in Rio, I was by myself, which was very liberating, being so young. I got to do my own thing.”
“People don't really go to museums in Rio. I shouldn't say it's not sophisticated, but, you know, they go to the beach.”
“My love of fashion stemmed from my mother's passion for it.”
“I'm so not interested in gossip. It just gives me the creeps. I love the work; I love what I do. If somebody sends me an interview that has any connotation of something that's not interesting or genuine, I'm not interested. I really detach myself from it.”
“Brazil is not what you see but what you feel. Once you spend time here - a week, two weeks - you get in the vibe. It's really intoxicating.”
“I don't listen to music when designing. We create in silence. I go through a torturous process because everything has to be precise and right.”
“All the Tauruses I know have this connection to the earth and the environment. We are very curious people, very loyal, very aware of and respectful of our surroundings. Also, we're stubborn, but that's our way. We understand what we want, which is not bad.”
“My parents had a factory, so I was linked to the textile and fashion industry.”
“I cannot live without art: it excites me, it challenges me, and it leads me to the next thing.”
“I just hate people who are lazy. To be on my team, you have to have energy and a sense of wanting to learn. That really excites me.”
“I hate to sound esoteric, but there is something about a house that leads you to that one chair, that one corner, where you just sit and feel comfortable.”
“Rio was a period of my life, and then, poof, I'm gone. I was very young living here, just kind of floating. New York was a foundation for everything I do today. Rio was the bridge.”
“I came to New York when I was 21, 22. I couldn't speak English. I knew I wanted to go to fashion school.”