Costume designer Carlos Rosario was born in Perpignan, France, to Spanish parents. His talent for fashion and design was recognized quite early, and at eighteen he was admitted to the prestigious Ecole Superieure de la Mode ( ESMOD) in Paris. During his fashion studies, he was able to work with many of his personal idols, including Vivienne Westwood, as well as up-and-coming designers, such as Corinne Cobson.
The Paris fashion elite also took notice of Rosario. In 1994, he was selected to be an assistant designer at Christian Dior Homme and helped create the Cent ans de cinéma (100 Years of Cinema) collection, which was presented at the historic Marigny Theater with French film royalty, Jean Claude Brialy and Lambert Wilson, in attendance. In addition, the House of Chanel selected Rosario, representing Parisian fashion students, to interview Karl Lagerfeld at the prestigious Sorbonne University about his life in fashion.
After establishing himself in the European fashion industry, Rosario decided to pursue his passion in cinema. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1995 and was immediately hired by one of his mentors, four-time Academy Award winner Colleen Atwood. Rosario collaborated with Atwood as part of her design team on numerous films, including SLEEPY HOLLOW, CHICAGO, A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS and PLANET OF THE APES.
Rosario worked several more years as an assistant costume designer on feature films, such as WALK THE LINE and TRON: LEGACY. His design career then took another jump forward. He was the costume designer on A PROPER SEND-OFF, directed by Eva Longoria; BOULEVARD, starring Robin Williams, Kathy Baker, and Bob Odenkirk; Michael Bay’s TNT television show THE LAST SHIP and RUNNER, RUNNER with Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck.
In 2015, Rosario was hired by Fede Alvarez to be the costume designer on DON’T BREATHE. The film was shot in Budapest and became a huge success at the box office in the summer of 2016. Rosario subsequently went to Chicago to design the costumes for the pilot of APB, directed by Len Wiseman, which was picked up by Fox. Rosario then worked with director Brad Anderson on two projects shot in Morocco: BEIRUT, a political thriller written by Tony Gilroy, starring Jon Hamm and Rosamund Pike, and THE BRAVE, a pilot for NBC/Universal.
Rosario again collaborated with Fede Alvarez in 2017 on the highly anticipated THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB starring Claire Foy. The film was released November 2018.
By 2020, he had designed costumes for two more projects: “Don’t Breathe 2” directed by Rodo Sayagues/ produced by Fede Alvarez, and “JOLT”, a very stylised thriller directed by Tanya Wexler Starring Kate Beckinsale, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Laverne Cox, Jai Courtney and Bobby Cannavale.
In early 2021, Carlos Rosario was hired by Showrunner Justin Marks and FX Network to design the costumes for “Shogun”, a mini-series of 10 episodes, based on the novel by James Clavell, set in Japan in the 17th Century. “Shogun” took him more than 16 months to complete in Vancouver, Canada. Thousands of costumes were designed and made in five different countries. It will be released on February 27th 2024.
Carlos just finished collaborating for the 4th time with director Fede Alvarez on a new “Alien” movie in Budapest. This new version will be released in August 2024.
He has worked in several countries including USA, Canada, England, Morocco, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Sweden, France.
He is fluent in French, Spanish and English and holds a US and EU passport.