Robert Carreon was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, he appeared on television and in regional theater productions. Carreon attended Philadelphia's Bishop Neumann High School, where he founded and edited the Neumann Gazette, a publication dedicated to the topic of theater. In 1966, Carreon applied to and was accepted by Parsons School of Design's Fashion Design Department. At Parsons, Carreon studied with figures such as longtime department chair Ann Keagy, Frank Rizzo (who would succeed Keagy as department chair), Suzanne Moray, and art history professor Paul Brach. Visiting critics, such as designer and Parsons alumnus Chester Weinberg, were also mentors. Carreon's classmates included Willi Smith, Kay Unger, Constance Saunders, and Sanford "Sandy" Slepak.

At that time, Parsons offered three-year programs and, in Carreon's second year, his design for a bikini and matching poncho won the June Francis Award. This resulted in Carreon's ensemble opening the 1967 annual school fashion show. With Carreon's approval, Keagy asked Carreon's classmate and friend Willi Smith, whose talent as a sketcher was evocative of the preferred Parsons' "style" at the time, to illustrate the design. This illustration can be found in the records of the Fashion Design Department. Haircare firm Clairol purchased the bikini and poncho for a traveling "fashion caravan" highlighting youth style.

Carreon's inspirations in the mid-1960s included the play Cabaret , which opened on Broadway during his first year at Parsons, and fashions of the 1930s generally. Short, permed hair in some of his drawings show this influence. Additionally, Carreon cites Rudi Gernreich and Pierre Cardin, specifically Cardin's 1964 Cosmos collection, as influential. He owned a Cardin Cosmos jacket, which he wore to class. Gernreich's influence can be seen in the helmets and head coverings as well as outfits resembling Gernreich's revolutionary swimwear in Carreon's student work.

Carreon left Parsons during his third year, and he found employment on Seventh Avenue at Mam'selle, working with designer Betty Carol, with whom he continued his design education. Mam'selle offered apparel to a market then known as "juniors," catering to older teens and young women. He later moved to Gucci America, where for ten years he was responsible for the firm's Fifth Avenue operations, as well as personal properties. Working with designers Julio Savio, GG Gasparini, and Ernest Castro, he supervised all elements of store and office design, budgeting and construction, as well as security, interior design, visual merchandising, furnishings and accoutrement. He was responsible for coordinating technical and creative support for fashion shows, benefits, and galas, and hosted dinners and receptions for VIP clients, family and friends.

Carreon later worked as a writer, stylist, merchandiser, and editor for Time-Warner, before returning to theater in 2001. Prior to his departure from Time-Warner, he established OUT@TimeInc, which received the 2003 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Fairness Award. Carreon founded Carreon Productions and has produced or been involved with a number of award-winning and critically acclaimed theatrical productions, including Soon of a Morning (2005), Remember Me (2005 and 2006), The Great Divorce (Magis Theater Company, 2007), Two One-Sided Conversations (2009, Lion Theatre), When Last We Flew (2010), and Outside on the Street (Invertigo Threatre Company, 2013). According to Carreon, who is a member of the Broadway League, Carreon Productions was founded on a principle of "art as a form of communication," a concept he learned at Parsons from Paul Brach.

Robert Carreon died on November 9, 2020 in Lima Pennsylvania.

Biographical details supplied by Robert Carreon at the time of donation.

Obituary retrieved September 29, 2021: https://www.ruffenachfuneralhome.com/obituary/Robert-Carreon