Wendell Rodricks

At 63 years old, Wendell Rodricks physical status not available right now. We will update Wendell Rodricks's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Rodricks began his career in fashion by designing for Garden Vareli, Lakmé Cosmetics and DeBeers. When in Paris with his first portfolio in hand, he was advised to put "your country in your clothes". He launched his own label in 1989 with his first show held at the Regal Room of the Oberoi Hotel, Mumbai. His first collection consisted of twelve ensembles, with model Mehr Jesia. Out of these, only six were complete outfits. He did not have enough funds for supplying all models with shoes or bottoms for their organza tunics. Henceforth, Rodricks' work involved a wide range of fashion, from lecturing on world costume history (at SNDT Women's University) to fashion journalism and styling for international advertising campaigns. He was the first Indian designer to be invited to IGEDO (the world's largest garment fair) in 1995; the first Indian designer to open the Dubai Fashion Week in 2001; and was invited to present at the Paris Fashion Week Pret a Porter salon in 2007. He was a fellow design member of the Fashion Design Council of India.

Rodricks was known for pioneering the idea of resort wear and for advocating eco-friendly fashion. In 2010, he revived the traditional Goan attire of the kunbi sari. He convinced Pratibha Patil, Priyanka Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to be its patrons, thus increasing the cost from a meagre Rs. 700 to more than Rs. 7000, for the benefit of the weavers. He was also a part of the khadi movement, and even promoted it at the world's largest organic fair, BioFach, at Nuremberg, Germany, in 2011 when he was invited there. In 2017, he presented a collection for plus-size women at the Lakme Fashion Week in 2017.

Rodricks dressed many over the decades. When his close friend Lisa Ray decided to get married in 2012, she chose a gown designed by him. In 2014, he paid tribute to actress Rekha at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW), on the occasion of her 60th birthday. Rodricks helped Deepika Padukone, who had been modelling with him for roughly two years then, grab her role in Om Shanti Om by recommending her to Malaika Arora, who in turn recommended her to Farah Khan in 2007. He also helped Anushka Sharma, launching her as a model in his 2007 Les Vamps Show at the Lakme Fashion Week and encouraged her to move to Mumbai when she was just 18 years old.

In 2016, he announced his retirement from his label, to concentrate on his museum. He handed over creative control to his student, Schulen Fernandes, who first worked with him in 1999.

Rodricks made cameo appearances in the 2003 film Boom and in the television play True West in 2002. He also played himself in the 2008 film Fashion.

Rodricks contributed to journals of travel and art, and wrote about food, especially Goan cuisine.

Later in 2012, Rodricks released his autobiography, titled The Green Room. It came about as the result of a writing challenge by a fellow author.

In 2017, he released Poskem: Goans in the Shadows. It is a work of fiction about poskem, orphans taken in by well-off Goan families, who were employed as servants. The book features illustrations by Mario Miranda.

From 1993 on Rodricks resided in a 450-year-old house in Colvale, named "Casa Dona Maria". In 2016, he and his partner moved to a smaller house nearby to convert the larger one into a museum of Goan fashion, named the "Moda Goa Museum and Research Centre". The museum was slated to open to the public in March 2020. Rodricks worked on collecting exhibits for it since 1998, when he began his research into Goa's costumes and clothing. He had since collected 800 exhibits, ranging from an original pano bhaju, to Reita Faria's bathing suit (which won her the title of Miss World in 1966), to an apsara found in a nearby field dating to a Buddhist monastery from the 7th century.

Rodricks was also one of the speakers at TEDxPanaji 2019.

Source

• Padma Shri in 2014
• Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (transl. Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2015
• Rainbow Warrior Award in 2014 by KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival