RACA Designs

Growing up in Leon Guanajuato, Mexico, Carlos was the oldest of three siblings. Living in a busy household with a strong mother, style and design came easy to Carlos. As a child as he customized his hand me down clothing from relatives.  At the age of nine, he began to alter these slightly worn garments and transform them by hand into something he was proud to wear.  With many girls in his family, he began to take his cousins’ Barbie dolls creating new looks and designing new outfits and style combinations for them.  This ignited his passion for sewing that led to creating ensembles for his mom and aunts, jumping from Barbies, to the ladies in his family.

In 1994, at the age of 22, Carlos relocated  to San Diego where he found work in the hospitality business.  He continued to sew, creating costumes and basic dresses for friends.  Seeing his talent, a friend asked Carlos to make a gown for a beauty pageant she was in, and Carlos took his first step into personal design.  From there he began to create over the top looks for; the Imperial Court of San Diego, Best in Drag, Tantrums and Tiaras and other organizations who held shows to benefit the San Diego LGBT Community Center and it’s programs.  Carlos’  over the top designs gave free reign to his imagination, and helped craft his understanding of the theatric nature of an extravagant look.  

Carlos soon after launched his new venture as a dance costume designer after being introduced to a salsa dancer within the latin dance community during a runway show. Clientele including numerous dancers, teams and troupes order costumes for their competitions. His designs have been worn at the World Latin Dance Cup, ESPN World Salsa Cup Championship and World Salsa Summit & Global Salsa Championship, to include many of the winners.  His work is in high demand within the salsa community as well as other dance genres.

Now, his salsa costumes are being shipped to Paris, Germany, New Zealand and Australia on a regular basis.  Many of these young dancers are at the age of getting married. With this, the first request for a wedding gown came three years ago from a salsa dancer that was convinced Carlos would do something amazing for her special day.  As they say, the rest is history.  This opened up a whole new world of couture custom gowns for his clients.  Just recently, he has been asked to create one of a kind designer gowns for M Bride, a high end salon in La Jolla, California.

Keeping in mind the movement of both the garment and the person wearing his design, Carlos has never used patterns and understands a women’s body and what design would look best on her.  His new lines will focus on evening, cocktail and bridal wear; a perfect next step to showcase his talent on how to “dress” a woman so that she is truly the star of the show.

Website | Coming Soon.

Facebook | RACA Designs

Instagram | @carlosalbertoramirez

Twitter | Coming Soon.