Bio
Santino Rice is an American fashion designer and television personality best known for his appearances on the reality television shows Project Runway, RuPaul's Drag Race and On the Road with Austin and Santino.
Rice was born and raised in St. Charles, Missouri. At 17, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. Santino graduated from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.
School helped him organise his thoughts; however the hands-on experience he gained from working in the fashion industry was his move valuable education.
While still in school, Santino began assisting acclaimed artist/designer Tony Duquette. This experience was one of the biggest turning points in Santino's life.
With a love for the process of making things, Santino was adamant on learning everything he could about dressmaking. He became skilled at all the technical aspects of garment construction.
When designer positions were not available, Santino could easily keep afloat financially by taking other positions such as "cutter" or assistant designer, due to his knowledge and experience.
Working behind the scenes at many Los Angeles fashion companies, Santino became indispensable to other designers.
Santino is constantly looking for something he has never seen before. Known for bringing an exotic and handcrafted touch to his garments, Santino believes in the concept of infusing worth and importance to a garment, he does this through handwork and various finishing techniques.