Christopher John Rogers

Christopher John Rogers was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Encouraged to pursue the arts from a young age, he obsessed equally over anime and the works of Gauguin. His foray into design began by creating costumes for comic book characters, using random fabric or garbage bags, draping them onto a form, and doing whatever he could do to make his vision come to life. It was this innate sense of experimentation that shaped his design process. He also spent many Sundays in the pews of a Baptist church in awe of the attention to detail that went into monochromatically coordinated silk wool ensembles, complete with feathered hats, stockings, and gloves, which inspired his decision to become a fashion designer. Rogers launched the CJR brand with his SCAD senior thesis collection and a close cohort of friends from the Class of 2016. Following graduation, the collection received major press after Cardi B wore the Eddie fox, mink, and ostrich intarsia fur coat to the BET Hip Hop Awards. Since then, the brand has received placements in Vogue, Elle, and WWD, and has been worn by prominent celebrities and public figures, including Michelle Obama, Rihanna, Tracee Ellis Ross, Gabrielle Union, Tessa Thompson, and Lizzo.