Fashion insiders and New Yorkers have known the name Isabel Toledo for nearly a decade now. After the Cuban-born, New York-based Toledo designed a "lemongrass yellow wool lace shift dress with matching overcoat" that Michelle Obama wore at the inauguration of her husband, her name has become somewhat of a household name. Amazing it could take that event and this amount of time for such a talent to get her just desserts.

Coincidentally, the Museum at FIT -- Toledo's alma mater -- has a show of her designs coming up this June entitled Isabel Toledo: Fashion From the Inside Out.

Toledo is often described as "a designer's designer." Although she is little known to the general public, her work is greatly admired by members of the fashion community. As the late fashion journalist Amy Spindler once wrote, "Only great designers can dispense with themes and theatrics and let the work speak instead. Ms. Toledo does just that, letting fashion itself be the theme."

Isabel's focus on technique, her willingness to experiment, and her strong personal vision make her work stand out. But other aspects of her career — her early rise to fame and subsequent years of struggle, her brush with organized crime, and her rollercoaster ride at a big fashion company — will be familiar to many in the modern fashion system.

Isabel works closely with her husband, the illustrator Ruben Toledo. As she begins to construct her visions, Isabel engages in intense discussions with Ruben, gesturing to show, for example, how the fabric should drape. "I think of it as fashion from the inside out," she explains. "I can describe an idea or even a feeling to Ruben, and he'll sketch it." Officially, Isabel is the fashion designer, or as she says, "the seamstress," and Ruben is the artist/illustrator, but the reality is much more complicated. "We're so meshed, it's impossible to separate what we do," says Ruben.

Read more on FIT's site and make sure to check out Toledo's Wiki to get more info on the designer and her husband. Anyone who's a fan of fashion won't want to miss this one.

Fashion From the Inside Out
Isabel Toledo
Museum at FIT
06.16 - 09.26.2009