Jewellery (jewelry)

By Marc Karimzadeh NEW YORK ? Christian Francis Roth is back.

“I am so excited to be doing my own thing again,” the designer said of his newest venture, the Francis by Christian Francis Roth collection. “It’s been a long road. I have been doing corporate design jobs since 2000. It’s been eight years of rolling up my sleeves and learning the fundamentals of how to produce a great product at a great price.”

After eight years of designing and consulting mostly under the radar for other Seventh Avenue brands, the 39-year-old is reentering the fashion scene with Francis for the spring 2009 season. The collection, to be unveiled at a presentation during New York Fashion Week this September, will be positioned between the upper-end contemporary and entry-level designer tiers.

“The reason I took some years off is so that when I had the opportunity to return, I could be in a situation to be creatively successful as well as profitable,” Roth said.

He’s the latest in a slew of designers from his generation to stage a comeback in recent months. Victor Alfaro is launching the Victor by Victor Alfaro line exclusively at The Bon-Ton Stores Inc.; Isaac Mizrahi is now creative director of the Liz Claiborne brand, and Todd Oldham is creative director of Old Navy.

Like them, Roth was a promising young talent who quickly became an industry darling. His tale is all-too familiar in fashion circles, where young talent often finds itself challenged to maintain and grow their names. Roth launched his collection in the late Eighties, and before putting his designs on the runway, was picked up by Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York and Bloomingdale’s. He started showing on the runway for the fall 1990 season, and made a name for himself with childhood references such as colorful crayon motifs or dresses with graphic prints of money. He received the Perry Ellis Award for new design talent, but despite all the buzz, was hard-pressed to maintain his growth.

“It came very quickly, as it tends to with young talents,” recalled Roth, sitting in his Mulberry Street studio. “I was [excited] and petrified at the same time…[happy] to be able to share my designs but scared because I had no business background.