Born in Bogota, Colombia, fashion designer Esteban Cortazar was raised in Miami.
He was, and still is, the youngest designer to ever-present at New York Fashion Week, he did so in 2002.
“I was 17 when I did the first show. It’s kind of crazy for me to think about it now. honestly, because sometimes I don’t even know how all of that happened, but it happened,” Cortazar said.
He grew up above the News Cafe on Ocean Drive, where the late great Gianni Versace had breakfast almost daily.
“I was waiting for my school bus to go to school in the morning and Gianni would be having breakfast downstairs. That was basically what I was looking at and it really influenced me, “ he explained. “ I see now more than ever how much those times really captured my essence as a person and as a designer.”
Cortazar showed CBS4’s Lisa Petrillo his first collaboration with the Spanish brand Desigual at their store on Lincoln Road. It’s a spring-summer unisex collection inspired by his years of growing up in Miami.
“Our models Kelly and Herbert are wearing the Andy Sweet unisex jeans,” he said as the models came out. “We worked with the legacy of the iconic photographer Andy Sweet who created some of the most beautiful images of South Beach back in the late 70s and I’ve been obsessed with those images for a long time.”
