Joseph Abboud
About
the designers
Joseph Abboud was born in 1950.
He began his career as a buyer and in 1981 joined Ralph Lauren, later to become associate director of menswear design.
In 1986 Abboud launched his own label and introduced his first menswear collection in 1987.
He won the Cutty Stark Award for most Promising Menswear Designer in 1988 and was the first designer to win the Council of Fashion Desingers of America (CFDA) award as Best Menswear Designer two years in a row in 1989 and 1990.
He sold the company in spring 2005 and left to pursue other interests after creative differences with Chief Executive Marty Staff, a larger-than-life apparel executive who previously worked for Hugo Boss. The tow met while working together at Polo Ralph Lauren.
Today he lives in Westchester, New York, together with his wife and two daughters.
The Look
Joseph Abboud makes clothes for men and women which are an unusual combination of American sportswear and North African colours (organic colors) and textures. In the 1960s Abboud collected Turkish kilims and these have inspired his natural palette and the stylized symbols that recur in his work.
Who Wears It
Pro sports players who like to look sharp, like Johnny Damon, Stefan Marbury and New York Giantsi?1 Jeremy Shockey.