Isabel Toledo

Isabel Toledo (born Maria Isabel Izquierdo; April 9, 1960 – August 26, 2019) was a Cuban-American fashion designer based in New York City. She was widely recognized in the fashion industry for her attention to craftsmanship and the "sophisticated simplicity" of her garments. Toledo was born Maria Isabel Izquierdo in Camajuaní, Cuba. Raised in West New York, New Jersey, after settling in the United States at the age of eight, she attended Memorial High School, where she met her future husband and collaborator, Ruben Toledo, whom she married in 1984. Toledo told CNN that she started sewing at age eight because, "I couldn’t find anything I loved." She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology (NY) and Parsons School of Design (NY), where she studied painting, ceramics, and fashion design. She left Parsons in 1979, then graduated to become an intern under Diana Vreeland at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Toledo died from breast cancer at a hospital in Manhattan on August 26, 2019.