Antonio Lopez was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico on February 11, 1943. His family lived in East Harlem in New York City when Antonio was seven, where he attended P.S.72 on East 104th Street, two blocks from where El Museo now stands. To keep her son off the streets, Lopez’s mother, a seamstress, would ask him to draw flowers for her embroideries. He also helped his father, a mannequin maker, to apply make-up and stitch wigs on to the figures. At the age of twelve, Lopez earned a scholarship to the prestigious Traphagen School of Fashion, which provided Saturday programming for children. From there he went on to attend the High School of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Antonio rose to prominence illustrating fashions for Women’s Wear Daily and The New York Times. He eventually became a freelance artist for many of the top fashion publications. He collaborated with the noted designer Charles James, creating an illustrated inventory of James’ fashion designs (now in the collection of the Chicago History Museum). He later moved to Paris with his friend and business partner, Juan Ramos, where they both worked with Karl Lagerfeld and many other designers. 

Through his work, Antonio made great strides in exploring and representing the gendered, ethnic or racialized body within the world of high fashion. His imagery helped develop a new canon of beauty throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He died of complications related to AIDS on March 17, 1987 at the age of 44. 

source: El Museo Del Barrio