FGI Dallas Honors Joseph Altuzarra, Roberto Coin

DALLAS — Fashion Group International Dallas presented Joseph Altuzarra with a crystal trophy for Career Achievement in Fashion Design at its annual Night of Stars benefit dinner and runway show on Saturday at Fashion Industry Gallery.

“I am so thrilled,” Altuzarra said before the ceremony. “I’ve had a long relationship with FGI, and I have a lot of fondness for the team. Obviously, raising funds for scholarships is so needed, and it’s great that they do it.”

FGI Dallas also honored Roberto Coin for Career Achievement in Jewelry, but the 81-year-old was unable to travel from Italy following a medical procedure.

“He’s recovering,” company president Peter Webster told WWD. “It was a non-invasive surgery, but the doctor wouldn’t let him travel. It’s not life-threatening.”

Webster accepted the honor on Coin’s behalf from “Shark Tank” panelist Lori Greiner, a longtime fan of the brand and friend of the designer and Webster.

“At the heart of Roberto’s timeless Italian classics lies the perfect blend of creativity, quality and innovation,” Greiner said, noting Coin has 1,000 points of sale for its 18-karat gold styles and introduces 400 new designs annually, each embedded with a tiny signature ruby.

The evening’s third honoree for career achievement was New York interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins.

Fashion consultant Fern Mallis presented the award to Altuzarra. 

“Since launching his eponymous label in 2008, Joseph has crafted a vision of fashion that is both fiercely modern and deeply rooted in tradition,” Mallis said. “He brings a unique multicultural perspective to his work, blending the precision of French tailoring with the pragmatism and ease of American sportswear.”

Altuzarra presented a runway show of 37 pieces from his spring 2026 collection.

He said business this year has been good, led by dresses and knitwear, despite a “wild ride” when minority investor CaaStle filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June and its founder, Christine Hunsicker, was subsequently charged with a massive fraud.

Altuzarra opened his first Texas boutique this month in Houston’s River Oaks District in a spot formerly occupied by Van Cleef & Arpels, which relocated to a bigger space.

In addition to permanent monobrand stores on Madison Avenue and East Hampton, N.Y., he’s scouting for a permanent location in Palm Beach, Fla., where he operated seasonal pop-ups over the past three years.

“The plan is to open more retail locations,” he said, noting the brand takes a “measured approach” to expansion by testing markets with temporary shops.

“We would love to test Dallas,” he said. “We’re just trying to figure out between Highland Park and a few of the other locations that have been suggested to us.”

The designer and his team packed a lot into their two-day visit, holding a fall and pre-spring trunk show at Stanley Korshak on Friday and visiting vintage and western stores plus Read Shop on Saturday. He picked up a pair short zip cowboy boots at Tecovas and a couple of items from noted vintage shop Dolly Python, a popular destination for visiting designers.

“What I love about [Dolly Python] is it feels both curated with a point of view but…they also have a lot of weird, quirky things,” Altuzarra said.