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AGAIN, this past September, Ralph Rucci, with his spring
2005 collection, demonstrated why the future of fashion lies in
his every capable hands. And once again, the nucleus of his continued
success on the ready-to-wear front could be seen in the well-received
fall 2004 haute couture collection he showed in Paris in mid-July
of this year.
In his programme notes, he wrote the following:
'In my showroom, as in my thoughts, there is little difference
between couture and ready-to-wear. What I find most important is
that we strive to create a product that is empowering, and works
with the spiritual essence of a woman. What really inspires me is
trying to make something that is extraordinary but at the same time
quiet and discreet.' And it is a true sign of his strength
as a designer that no one, not even the naysayers, has ever doubted
his innate couture credentials.
There are those among us that, while they admire
his adherence to his deeply felt, 'strictly structured approach'
to designing and his 'high-minded inclinations,' they still believe
that Mr Rucci has not sufficiently bent to their will and their
viewpoint. The reviewer for style.com gave Mr Rucci a back-handed
compliment with the following opening statement: 'Ralph Rucci approaches
his ready-to-wear line with all the gravitas of an architect commissioned
to design a national monument. Rich fabrics and exotic skins subordinate
themselves to his authority. Every seam, every edge, every hem follows
its assignment. Details are dazzlingly precise. It's the kind of
brainy approach to fashion that benefits from close scrutiny by
a connoisseur—say, for example, the wealthy women who've become
such Chado fans over the years—not the impatient audience at
a New York runway show.' If only we had time to dig six feet under
for the real compliment in this statement.
The reality of the situation is this: in fashion,
as in most other areas of modern life, there are aficionados
with the highest level of talent and taste, and there are the people
who are the bottom feeders and who run with the pack. The "followers"
in fashion operate much like the second-rate pharmaceutical
houses that wait until a company's copyright on a best selling drug
has run out to come out with me-too drugs that don't do much to
advance the cause of fighting illness. Mr Rucci is not one to follow
anyone anywhere: he's an innovator. Instead, he bravely takes the
lead and often the road less travelled; which, for the record, has
resulted in some failures. But that was clearly not the case with
his two latest collections.
His fall 2004 haute couture collection, shown
in July, continued Mr Rucci's evolution in staying true to
his roots while creating designs that are decided more fluid, certainly
less forced, and much younger in feel and general execution, which
was carried over into his spring 2005 collection. For both collections,
he used wool crêpe, silk, leather, lightweight chiffons, layered
tulle and luxe materials, like sheared mink or alligator sliced
into thin strips, stitched to tulle to create a vision of loveliness
that was the perfect closing statement to what could aptly be described
as a better-than-expected New York Fashion Week.
CONTINUED
Mr Rucci is
not one to follow anyone anywhere; he’s an innovator. He bravely
takes the lead and often the road less travelled
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THIS PAGE: From
July 2004, Chado Ralph Rucci haute couture, shown in Paris.
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Ralph
Rucci refuses to follow the pack, and his spring 2005 collection
showed that it was the right path, writes Phillip D. Johnson
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