Who

The creative director of the Calvin Klein Collection, Costa has added his own flair to the company's most prestigious label while maintaining its signature minimalist elegance.

Backstory

Born in Guarani, a small Brazilian town three hours outside of Rio, Costa was first exposed to fashion thanks to his mom, who designed children's clothing. When Maria-Francisca Costa passed away suddenly in 1981, a 20-year-old Francisco packed his bags and headed for New York. Costa signed up for English classes at Hunter and started taking design courses at night at FIT; his first job in the industry came when a well-connected older boyfriend helped him land a position working for Herbert Rounick and his Seventh Avenue garment company He-Ro Group, which produced dresses for Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta. De la Renta himself hired Costa as an assistant a few years later. After a five year stint with de la Renta, Costa headed to Gucci after Tom Ford offered him a senior designer position. In 2002, Costa made the leap to Calvin Klein, just a year before Klein and Barry Schwartz, Klein's longtime business partner, sold the company to Phillips-Van Heusen for $400 million.

Of note

Costa had giant shoes to fill when he assumed creative responsibility for Klein's most prestigious line and initially there were predictable growing pains. Critics took aim at Costa's efforts to make his own mark on the iconic brand and criticized many of his early design choices, including his decision to alter the fit of Klein's clothing. (Costa was "tampering with the classic simplicity of the brand," warned one fashion writer, although others were quick to point out that the company was in need of fresh energy after several years of decline.) Costa also had to deal with increasing tensions with Calvin Klein's new parent company P-VH, which was eager to cut costs and outsource much of Klein's production activities abroad. But Costa managed to rebound soon enough. A couple of years after taking the helm, he'd managed to turn his skeptics into believers, earning praise for continuing Klein's theme of simple, sensuous sportswear while putting his own stamp on the look. The turnaround was confirmed in 2006 when he nabbed the CFDA womenswear award, beating out Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler. These days critics suggest that Costa has returned to the classic elegance of Calvin Klein's heyday—the Times' fashion critic Cathy Horyn called his designs for spring 2008 "faultless"—and in 2008 he again won a CFDA award.

On the job

Costa has creative responsibility for the Calvin Klein Collection; he works alongside Italo Zucchelli, who is responsible for Calvin Klein's menswear division and Kevin Carrigan, who oversees the mass cK line; Costa reports to Tom Murry, the president of Calvin Klein who, in turn, works under PVC's chief, Emanuel Chirico.

Personal

Costa has been involved with horse trainer John DeStefano since 1990; the two met at a furniture store in Manhattan. In 2004, they paid $1.0 million for an apartment on lower Madison Avenue. They also have a Dutch colonial home in Bellport, on Long Island.

True story

Costa says he once had to redo an entire Gucci collection in four days after Tom Ford decided he wanted the collection to match the shade of red on a fire extinguisher.