Rags to riches

Designer Carlos Campos has been through a lot.

“I’m just this guy who made something out of nothing,” says the 36-year-old Honduran, and he’s not referring to the perfectly tailored men’s suits he’s known for, or the launch of his first women’s-wear collection during Fashion Week. He’s talking about his experience as an immigrant crossing the US border at the age of 13.

“I didn’t have any papers and didn’t speak English. I just came here and worked hard,” says the up-and-comer, who traveled alone from his hometown of El Progreso, Honduras, to New York with only his sewing skills as currency. “I learned to make clothes early,” he explains. “My father was a tailor and my mom helped to cut and put things together.”

After a few tailoring jobs in Brooklyn and a short-lived scarf and tie business, he enrolled at FIT when he was 23. Later, a stint designing costumes for Broadway shows like “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Jersey Boys” taught him the importance of delving into the character he’s dressing.

He definitely has a clear image of the man wearing his garments: “I like to think of him as a clean rock star,” says the designer. (He counts The Killers and Ricky Martin as clients.) And despite having just launched the women’s line, he envisions his target female as someone who is “successful, aggressive and has her own personal style.”

A photography book on the work of Tadao Ando, a Japanese architect who plays with light and shape, inspired the new collection, which ranges from $120 to $520.

“I started flipping through pages and began to sketch. Everything I was doing was very Art Deco,” he says. “You’ll see a lot of lines and inserted pieces that go around,” as well as shades of gray, yellow, purple and black.

The next challenge for the designer will be creating uniforms for his country’s national soccer team.

“If they go to the World Cup, then we get to work,” says the fútbol fanatic.

“I’m so nervous,” he admits. But he’s not talking about the challenge of making the uniforms.

What’s really making him sweat is the team’s upcoming qualifying match.