Jeffrey Costello & Robert Tagliapietra

Robert Tagliapietra and Jeffrey Costello were destined to meet and become the dynamic designing duo Costello Tagliapietra. Growing up in working class families, Robert in Westchester, New York and Jeffrey in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, both had grandmothers who worked as seamstresses at Norman Norell, yet they had never met.

In the 80’s, Jeffery began designing clothes in collaboration with local New York bands, which led to a lot of video work, movies, and personal wardrobes for stars like Madonna, Debi Mazar, and Dépeche Mode. In 1994, Robert and Jeffery met and it was clearly kismet. Their first collaboration was working for Madonna’s bedtime stories video and instantly the two realized that together, they could take the fashion world by storm. They were partners, a divine designing duo that still today claims the most important and influential person in their lives is each other.

In 2005, Robert and Jeffery officially founded their company Costello Tagliapietra. They were first recognized by the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation and were awarded for an ensuing fall collection. Both being self taught, and with no direct connection to people in the industry, they blindly sent out their 12 look collection in a look book to hundreds of magazines. Within two weeks, they received a call from Irini Arakas from Vogue who wrote a story about them in March. By June, they were a company.