Creative Mind: Christopher John Rogers

Using volume, color, and confidence as guiding principles, the fashion designer creates clothes that give the wearer a sense of freedom

Person wearing a colorful striped dress standing against a white background.
A dress from Christopher John Rogers’s spring 2024 collection. Photo: CÉSAR BUITRAGO

Volume, color, confidence—these three words seem to be the guiding principles that have made the fashion career of Christopher John Rogers such a staggering success. Although he launched his collection only in 2018, when at just 24 years old, his designs have been worn by Rihanna, Michelle Obama, and Kamala Harris, who donned a coat and dress from his label for her swearing-in as vice president. What attracts all these women—as well as the judges for the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which named him its 2021 American Womenswear Designer of the Year—boils down to the freedom he gives each wearer.

Person wearing a black cap and a dark suit looking confidently at the camera against a neutral background.
Christopher John Rogers. Photo: KENDALL BESSENT
Person wearing a colorful, striped dress with an asymmetrical hem, posing against a plain background.
A dress from Christopher John Rogers’s spring 2024 collection. Photo: CÉSAR BUITRAGO
Striped shirt hanging, with a video camera in the foreground.
Christopher John Rogers’ collection with Farrow and Ball. Photo: JAMES MERRELL

“Color is the starting point for any collection,” says Rogers, whose command of the spectrum has led to a paint and wallpaper collaboration with Farrow & Ball along with fabrics for Irish furniture maker and fellow Creative Mind Orior.

Personal style: “I like to think of there being no aesthetic hierarchy. You can wear a bright color and be quite declarative while still being the most intelligent person in the room. I like to provide people with the tools to self-express as opposed to restrict who they are.”

Paint cans and brushes on a wooden floor in front of a wall with a color chart.
Selections from his paint collaboration with Farrow & Ball. Photo: JAMES MERRELL
Modern interior with a white sofa, striped walls, open wardrobe, striped dress, glass table, and vase of white tulips.
Christopher John Rogers’ collection with Farrow and Ball. Photo: JAMES MERRELL

“I like to provide people with the tools to self-express as opposed to restrict who they are”

Christopher John Rogers

Person wearing a strapless, striped gown with layered tulle skirt, striking a pose against a plain background.
A dress from Christopher John Rogers’s spring 2024 collection. Photo: CÉSAR BUITRAGO

Mixed mediums: “I’m equally inspired by draping in an 18th-century oil painting as a trash bag. To me, Christian Lacroix is just as interesting as the Muppets.”

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.