With his spring/summer 2014 menswear collection, London-based fashion designer Domingo Rodriguez confirmed that he still revels in the creative experimentation derived from fusing the elegance of minimalist lines with the pragmatic vocabulary of sports apparel. If this concept has pervaded Rodriguez’s collections over the last few seasons, for spring/summer 2014 there is a clear stylistic evolution in that the considerate choice of fabrics has allowed for seductive textures to come to the fore and enrich the garments. At the same time, the possibilities offered by a diverse colour palette have been adopted with more confidence and less reluctance than before.
It is indisputable that Rodriguez’s spring/summer 2014 menswear collection offers intricate textures in the form of heavily laboured quilted modal jersey, embossed snake and crocodile skins, and black and tan leathers. At the same time, this rich tactile dimension is adroitly softened by the fluidity of washed silk shorts and silk georgette jogging pants and tops. In addition, the young designer is not shy of sculpting silhouettes through garments as diverse as T-shirts, bomber jackets, gillets, trousers, jackets and a variety of knitwear pieces in a colour range that, despite being anchored by sombre black and white, allows for elegant accents of navy and mustard to shine through.
Upon graduating from Liverpool John Moores University in 2008, Rodriguez won the Menswear Award at London’s Graduate Fashion Week. He then went on to secure the Harold Tillman Scholarship for his Masters course at the London College of Fashion. His graduate MA collection for Autumn/Winter 2010 was scouted by asos.com for an exclusive capsule collection and his Spring/Summer 2011 menswear collection was presented during Paris Men’s Fashion Week in June 2010 as one of Esquire magazine’s ‘7 Brilliant Brits’. Rodriguez gained experience working for designers Kim Jones and Carolyn Massey and collaborated with Phi-Nom Leather, Saga fur and Kopenhagen fur before deciding to devote his energies to his eponymous label. He presented his Spring/Summer 2013 designs during the inaugural London Collections: Men in June 2012 and in January 2013 he unveiled his Autumn/Winter 2013 collection at the Capsule fashion showcase in Paris.