Victor De Souza

Victor de Souza was born into a Portuguese family in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was first introduced to fashion through his grandmother’s closet, which was filled with an elegant collection by designers such as Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Chanel and Schiaparelli. Seduced by the tapered silhouettes, brilliant colors and rich fabrics, de Souza knew at an early age that design was his calling.

Although his newfound passion was frowned upon by his family, he found a way to act upon his desire to design by hand-sewing garments for his sisters and their dolls from ordinary bed linens. At the age of fourteen Victor de Souza enrolled in a couture academy in Argentina, he later studied at two other Argentinean couture academies and CETIC (Centro De Estudios Tecnicos Para La Industria De La Confeccion). In school, he quickly acquired a reputation as a perfectionist because of his obsession with constructing garments that fit the form perfectly. He designed his first collection in Argentina by the age of eighteen.

In October 2002 de Souza made his debut couture collection at Paris Fashion Week. The showing was held at the American Consulate, as part of a special group event entitled “Americans in Paris.” This same year, editors and stylists began noticing his designs when Alicia Keys appeared at the NFL kick-off party in Times Square in 2002, wearing one of de Souza’s signature corsets. Around this time, Victor de Souza was commissioned to design the wardrobe for Mary J. Blige “Share My World Tour”;. Other famous personalities such as Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez, and Sarah Jessica Parker soon began to appear in his clothing.

In 2002 Victor de Souza was the only American designer chosen by the multimillion-dollar company DOW to represent them at the Premiere Vision in Paris. For this event, Victor de Souza created a collection that reflected the possibilities of a variety of different materials. He worked with textiles that ranged from casual to couture, including cotton, canvas, wool, and silk. This challenged Victor de Souza to expand his design aesthetic, and work with fabrics he had never used before.

In 2006, Victor de Souza was named creative director at Ruskin, a successful ready-to-wear collection. He was the head designer for the S/S 2007 collection, F/W 2007 collection, and the S/S 2008 collection which was featured in WWD. Victor de Souza was able to reinvigorate Ruskin sales with these collections.

Victor de Souza has since continued to develop his couture technique. He has begun to concentrate on the production of his clothing, launching the first Victor de Souza Ready-to-Wear Collection in 2009. With the S/S 2009 Victor de Souza collection and subsequent collections, Victor de Souza has successfully channeled his couture experience into designing and crafting high-end ready-to-wear clothing.