The Cuban-born master of minimalism Narciso Rodriguez is, like most Manhattanites these days, glad to see the return of warm weather in the Big Apple. “It was a pleasure to walk to work! The sun, even with the breeze – everyone has such a great attitude,” he said the other week, adding that some of his best design ideas come to him on the sidewalks of New York, as he makes his way from his Chelsea apartment to his Union Square studio each day. Much of his work, in fact, is informed by the urban landscape and energy of the city (and he never leaves home without a sketchbook). It’s fitting, then, that the 53-year-old designer was tapped to create the staff uniforms for the soon-to-open Park Hyatt New York, across from Carnegie Hall in the heart of Midtown.  Pondering the addition of the towering, all-glass skyscraper to the city’s skyline, Rodriguez reminisces about his formative years and says that, growing up, he always knew he wanted to build things. “Architecture is always one of the foundations for me,” he said, adding that his favorite New York City buildings are the Seagram Building, the Empire State building and the Chrysler building (he even designed a silver embroidered dress inspired by the latter for Aimee Mullins in Matthew Barney’s “The Cremaster Cycle” film series).  Though the sleek black dresses he crafted for the hotel don’t have literal ties to any skyscrapers, they do include an architectural sheath with his signature cutouts. “I’ve done this in the past and it is something that women really respond to, and men really respond to too,”Rodriguez says. “It’s quite sexy, but not in an overt way.”  Can uniforms be chic? He thinks so. “When you are asked to wear something, it can be a drag, and I wanted to make it not that,” he explains. “I wanted to make it an experience where people felt they looked good and felt sexy, and still look appropriate for their position.”
The fashion designer — who cites Manhattan’s architecture as one of his main inspirations — created the women’s staff attire for the hotel, set to open this summer.