For the Bold
Louisiana native Christopher John Rogers makes his mark on the New York fashion scene
Totally enthralled by the two-dimensional worlds of comic books, manga, Marvel, and Saturday-morning cartoons, a young Christopher John Rogers’ eye picked out something singular in the spaces of strategic lines and popping colors. “I found it interesting how the right piece of clothing could so transform these characters and enhance their individuality,” he said.
Spurred by this discovery, the Baton Rouge future fashion wunderkind began exploring the secret narrative powers of a dramatic silhouette, bestowing them graciously upon his own hand-drawn comic book characters.
Today, at twenty-six-years-old, Rogers’ designs—brought to vibrant, bold life here in the third dimension—grace many of the most iconic characters of our time, including: Michelle Obama, Lizzo, Gabrielle Union, Ashley Graham, and Tracee Ellis Ross, to name a few.
Rogers launched his eponymous brand in 2016 with his senior thesis collection at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), which offers the world's preeminent, top-ranked fashion program. In his designs, he drew from sources ranging from midcentury Malian and Moroccan music to Jackie Nickerson’s ethnographic portraiture to theories of color relativity. The collection—a phantasmagoria of tulle; bright clashing prints; Swarovski crystals; and structured, iridescent disco-esque pantsuits—put Rogers on the map of global high-end womenswear, a standout for avant-garde extravagance and flair. Shortly after his senior show, at the 2017 BET Hip Hop Awards, Cardi B ascended the stage wearing the collection’s Eddie fox, mink, and ostrich intarsia coat.
After graduating from SCAD, Rogers moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he took a full-time job as a designer under Diane von Furstenburg, while also selling made-to-order designs from his Brooklyn apartment and developing new collections.
Though his work is constantly evolving, Rogers’ commitment to the glamour of sophisticated conspicuousness is a constant. At his and his team’s second New York Fashion Week show in February 2019, he memorably described his designs to Vogue’s Rachel Hahn as “mid-century cotillion balls, debutantes, and quinceañeras, but as if those celebrations were thrown in a neolithic site like Stonehenge, and then Dr. Seuss drew them.”
Rogers explained that when he approaches a new collection, embracing the power of individuality is at the forefront of his decision-making. “I want whoever chooses to wear our garments to be noticed and feel empowered about being seen,” he said.
In addition to his childhood animated worlds, Rogers cites designers such as Isaac Mizrahi, Todd Oldham, Alexander McQueen, and John Galliano—each a master of his own sort of effusive elegance—as his early influences. “I would watch these videos of them speaking backstage to learn from their insight,” he said. “I consider them my creative heroes.”
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The experience of growing up in South Louisiana, said Rogers, was also deeply formative to his approach to fashion today. “While growing up in Baton Rouge, I always attended church with my mother and grandmother, and I was totally enamored by the clean lines and polished styles of the other parishioners,” he said, adding that the communal celebration of “personal style” and individuality among his peers was particularly inspiring.
Regarding the South as a whole, in 2018 Rogers told The Fader’s Antwaun Sargent that he appreciates the cultural idea of “dressing up,” and consciously pushes against the modern emphasis on comfort and minimalism in favor of what he calls “effortful dressing.”
Last September, Rogers returned to New York Fashion Week full-force, this time meeting his highly expectant crowd with a Spring 2020 line filled with all his signature drama: a collection of sumptuous gowns, future-esque shimmering fabrics, resplendent monochromes and plaids, and massive, blustering bows. Throughout ran the referential theme of the sad clown character Pierrot, culminating in his final garment, a billowed white gown aggrandized by thousands of crystals and a puffed, exaggerated collar.
“Those who wear my pieces will always feel bold and empowered.” —Christopher John Rogers
“I can find inspiration almost anywhere,” said Rogers. “From unique pieces of furniture to street style to landscapes and architecture. I constantly intertwine new muses and ideas into my designs.”
The show concluded with a standing ovation from a crowd filled with industry giants, including Joseph Altuzarra, Adam Selman, Alejandra Alonso Rojas, and Rogers’ former employer Diane von Furstenberg.
Just a few short months later, in competition with nine other up-and-coming designers, Rogers was announced as the 2019 winner of the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. Established in 2003 as a means to support emerging American designers, the award grants its winner $400,000 and mentorship from industry professionals. Joining CVFF alums like Alexander Wang, Altuzarra, and last year’s winner Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss, Rogers said of the honor, “It was humbling to have my creations judged by such legacies in the industry. I’m still overwhelmed with gratitude, and feel solidified in my path as a designer.”
The award has allowed Rogers to move his operation out of his apartment, where he and his team created his previous collections by hand. With a new studio and new partnerships, the brand will be expanding into luxury women’s boutiques around the country, including McMullen, Forty Five Ten, and Net-a-Porter—as well as “hitting the ground running with the next collection.”
Still dressing superheroes, Rogers’ designs are created to unapologetically enhance the strength and the magic of the modern woman. “While my inspirations may change—depending on who or what is around me—my desire to create bold and unquestioning clothes remains the same,” he said. “Those who wear my pieces will always feel bold and empowered.”