Francisco Costa knew he would become a designer from an early age. He grew up in a small Brazilian town where his parents operated an apparel business. He moved to New York City in the 1990s to study design and went on to work with Oscar de la Renta and Tom Ford at Gucci before joining Calvin Klein as Creative Director in 2002. He later created his namesake line and the sustainable beauty concept, Costa Brazil, which is available at Onda Spa at Canoe Place Inn in Hampton Bays.
We spoke with Costa to find out more.
Tell us a little about your background. Your parents had an apparel business and you would put on fashion shows for charities in your hometown? How old were you when you knew you wanted to become a designer?
Growing up in the small Brazilian town of Guarani near Rio, my family had deep roots in fashion. Both my parents owned and operated an apparel business. My mother recycled leftover fabrics into quilts or would stage fashion shows with sustainable fabrics, and my sister also pursued fashion design. I knew I wanted to become a designer when I was 13 — it just felt so natural, there really was no decision to be made, it was intrinsic to me. The first fashion show I held was when I was 16. My mother and uncle were building a home for elderly people so I decided to do a show. People bought tickets and ordered designs, which were ultimately made by a woman in town, Marta. All the money went to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which has an arm in Bellport.
You moved to New York City in the early ’90s. What inspired this move?
I moved to New York in the early 1990s with aspirations to design for a large fashion house. I didn’t know English yet and enrolled in FIT, where I earned an Idea Como/Young Designers of America award and led to further studies at FIT and in Italy. Once I graduated and mastered English, I designed at Susan Bennett Studio, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford, and lastly Calvin Klein’s studio in early 2002.
Tell us more about your background as a designer, how you got your start in New York, your time at Oscar de la Renta, and working for Tom Ford at Gucci as senior designer.
My first industry job was designing dresses for Bill Blass under Herbert Rounick’s He-Ro Group. They licensed brands like Krizia and Bill Blass. Eight months after I started, they signed a contract with Oscar de la Renta and offered me a position. De la Renta ultimately brought me to his studio where I worked on his signature collection as well as Pierre Balmain haute couture, prêt-a-porter luxe, and the launch of Oscar de la Renta Pink Label. He gave me the ultimate design education. He taught me the most and not just the craft, but life. Oscar was so full of life and had a genuine interest in what was good.
In 1998, I joined Tom Ford in his Gucci design studio, where I was a senior designer concentrating on eveningwear, including custom designs for select clients and celebrities.
I then joined Calvin Klein’s studio in early 2002. I was the Women’s Creative Director of Calvin Klein Collection for 13 years.
Tell us about your time at Calvin Klein and some of the collections and/or designs that are most memorable to you.
I succeeded Calvin as the creative director. I was so frightened by the brand itself because I thought everything it had done before was so perfect. Calvin was so seminal to fashion, to what American fashion represents. It was minimalist, the home of purity and cleanliness, and I had to lean into that. The greatest difference between what Calvin did and what I did is that I felt more like a reductionist than a minimalist.
What I did was rarefied minimalist clothes — they became more special, in the manufacturing, the materials. In my time there, we also really started focusing on celebrity, which propelled the business tremendously. We dressed them all — it was a lot of fun.
My first collection was one of my favorites, it was the sweetest, the least pretentious. And it landed on the front page of the New York Times. Fall 2011 was also just beautiful and artful — crafted with all these recycled yarns.
You’ve been the recipient of the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2006 and 2008. Talk a little about this honor.
I always thought that most of the design awards were political so I was a bit skeptical when I received the first CFDA Award. Nervous and excited, but I couldn’t quite believe it was happening. When I received the second, the Mortimer C. Ritter Award in 2008, it made me believe that people really cared for the clothes. One award that really means a lot to me is the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Design Award, celebrating Calvin’s 40th anniversary of the house. It celebrated angular shapes, expressed the reality of how to simplify and store things. I’m very proud that it wasn’t a fashion industry award.
Can you tell us about your sustainable beauty concept Costa Brazil and how it’s inspired by your native Brazil?
Costa Brazil was born with Conservation International, a non-profit dedicated to spotlighting and securing the rights of the forest, by our side. They have helped us make good business decisions that help the environment, from ingredient sourcing to packaging. We collaborate often with them. There is such an opportunity to learn from each other, and make better choices for us all.
The people and their deep-rooted knowledge on the forest continues to be the main source of inspiration for Costa Brazil. The community I first met were the Yawanawás in the northern part of the Brazilian Amazon. They introduced me to their traditional rituals and invited me into their celebrations and opened their minds to me and in turn my mind to them. They have a connection to the earth that is breathtaking to witness. Every day is about purification, re-energizing, healing, love — for each other and the forest.
Costa Brazil, captures this rich, natural essence of my homeland Brazil. Products are made from pure, potent, enriching ingredients, sustainably sourced from the Amazon rainforest, and activated using the latest laboratory technologies. Dedicated to helping preserve the beauty of the natural world, we have partnered with Conservation International, as well as other non-profits, to follow the best practices for sourcing activities, while also working to restore the rainforest. It’s essential to work in partnership with local cooperatives and scientists to ensure the protection of both body and Earth.
How did your collaboration with Onda Beauty and Canoe Place come about?
I am quite close with the Onda Team — Naomi Watts and her president, Jane Hong Fernandez. Jane brought the collaboration to me and it was a natural fit. It’s a beautiful historic property and I love that the location is so close to my place in Bellport. It’s become quite a destination since the opening late last summer, which is great for Costa Brazil.
Can you tell us a little about your signature scent and the ingredients you use in your products.
The signature scent of Costa Brazil was found in the depths of the Amazon.
During my first journey, I learned that Breu was an astoundingly versatile remedy for everything from anxiety and headaches to colic, respiratory issues, and aggravated skin. When burned, breu releases a relaxing, woodsy aroma of rich earth and crushed leaves. Enchanted by the burning of Breu resin used by the indigenous peoples in ceremonial rituals, I knew I had to bottle the scent in some way. Thus came the birth of AROMA, our eau de parfum, peppered with wonderful memories and heart-warming smells: burning wood, orange blossoms, dirt, smoke, mint.
The ingredients, however, found us — three of them specifically which make up our Jungle Complex. When we discovered breu we understood it was already potent in its raw form and we also developed it as an extract to use in our skincare as it has incredibly anti-inflammatory properties. Kaya, our second ingredient is rich and fatty and extremely protetic, it is at its purest when it’s cold pressed into an oil, as is Cacay, our third ingredient, which is known as the Gold of the Amazon due to its contents of retinol and vitamin E properties.
We have a unique partnership with Conservation International. CI helps us with all of our sourcing and strategy on site in the Amazon to ensure we are extracting ingredients in a sustainable and regenerative way, working closely with the communities on the ground.
Talk a little about the philanthropic work you do and the organizations you support.
Throughout my career, I have engaged in numerous social causes in Brazil and around the world. Namely AIDS Project Los Angeles, American Foundation for AIDS Research, Amnesty International, Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, Children’s Health Fund, City of Hope, Global Fund, GLSEN, GRAMMY Foundation, Lopez Family Foundation, and (RED).
Through Costa Brazil, we’ve helped protect hundreds of thousands of acres in both the Amazon and other endangered forests world wide through commercial co-ventures (percentage of sales initiatives) from specific creative collaborations including. Since 2018, a partnership with Conservation International has planted over 60,000 trees. October 2020, a limited edition collaboration between Costa Brazil and Pangaia, with 100 percent of proceeds going to Conservation International. June 2021, the Fred Leighton Collaboration, with 100 percent of proceeds going to Conservation International. June 2022 a limited edition collaboration between Costa Brazil and Bottletop Foundation, with 100 percent of proceeds going to the Bottletop Foundation. June 2022, a limited edition collaboration between Costa Brazil and Curtis Kulig, with 100 percent of proceeds going to Conservation International. December 2022, swim and skin collaboration between Costa Brazil and Tropic of C, with 10 percent of proceeds going to Conservation International.
In addition to commercial support, Costa Brazil has created awareness for the preservation of the Amazon through a series of events. In October 2019, an intimate salon hosted by Tashka Yawanawa, the leader of the Yawanawa Tribe during the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City. In February 2020, we launched the Creative Coalition, which is an open door program where creatives are invited to donate a project in exchange for credits towards protecting acres in the Amazon.
In September 2021, we partnered with Creative Time to support “An Opera for Trees,” a public art installation in Prospect Park to create awareness around the lifecycle of trees. In November 2022, alongside Conservation International, we hosted an intimate event with hosts Candice Swanepoel and Claire Stern to honor Conservation International’s Global Impact.
It’s summer on the East End. How do you like to enjoy your time?
Simply, in nature. I like to garden and I’m so thrilled to arrive from the city on a Friday night and be out in the garden first thing Saturday. It’s a great pleasure to connect this way. Long Island is this axis of country and sea, the water, the light — it’s very special. That lightness is what attracted me to Long Island in the first place, you just don’t find it inland.
