"Antonio Lopez was born in Utuado, Puerto Rico. When he was seven years old, his family moved to New York City.^[2] His parents, Maria Luisa Cruz and Francisco Lopez influenced him to apply his artistic talents to fashion.^[1][2] He attended the High School of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology. While attending the F.I.T. he began an internship at Women's Wear Daily which led to him leaving school and working at the publication. Shortly afterward he left for a position at the New York Times.^[2]
Lopez worked in close collaboration with Juan Eugene Ramos.^[2] He also did illustrations of fashion designs by Charles James.
In 1969 he moved to Paris along with Ramos and was an associate of Karl Lagerfeld; he stayed there until the mid-1970s.^[1] Antonio discovered Jessica Lange in 1974.^[3] He discovered Jerry Hall and lived with her in Paris at the beginning of her modeling career.^{[4][5] [6]} Lopez and Ramos also discovered Grace Jones and Tina Chow.^[7]
In additions to books of his fashion illustration, the book Antonio's Tales From the Thousand and One Nights was published in 1985.^[1] The book was the inspiration for Marc Jacobs' 2007 "Arabian Nights" event.^[8]
A book on the career of Antonio Lopez, "Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex, & Disco", by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha (with a foreword by Andre Leon Talley and an epilogue by Anna Sui), was published by Rizzoli in September 2012"