Rucci news
A story in the Palm Beach Daily News on Rucci:
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/fash/content/fashion/RalphRucci0328.html
'How I got into trouble'
Rucci decries emphasis on youth, 'political' power structure of fashion world
By
ROBERT JANJIGIAN
Daily News Fashion Editor
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Daily News Photo by Ruth Cincotta
(enlarge photo)Ralph Rucci, with samples from his fall Chado collection, discussed the inspirations behind his work at a Historical Society benefit lunch Monday at Neiman Marcus.
He's a refined rebel.
On Monday, New York designer Ralph Rucci spoke about his career and inspirations with Pamela Fiori, editor of Town & Country, as part of The Historical Society of Palm Beach County's benefit luncheon lecture at Neiman Marcus' Worth Avenue store.
"I never sought permission to be a designer," said the Philadelphia-born, Fashion Institute of Technology-trained Rucci, whose Chado ready-to-wear collection has been available for 25 years and is noted for its precise detailing, luxuriousness and timeless style.
"This is how I got into trouble."
Rucci, the first American designer since Mainbocher in the 1930s to be invited by the French fashion authorities to show a haute couture collection in Paris, told the audience that he's fought against the "political" structure of fashion for many years, specifically in terms of how "certain" publications put the emphasis on promoting "inane children in borrowed clothes and borrowed jewelry."
"It saddens me," he said. "Why are we looking at them?"
Style, according to Rucci, has nothing to do with youth.
"Style comes with age. It's terribly vulgar to say 'a woman of a certain age,' " he said, noting that he dresses women in their 20s and into their 90s. "That's a negative in the fashion press."
Rucci added that "women of a certain age" are the buying public and should not be pushed aside.
His fall collection runway show referenced the look of the late sculptor Louise Nevelson, whom Rucci pointed to as possessing notable style even in her later years.
"We wrapped the models' heads in Saran Wrap" for the show in homage to Nevelson, Rucci said.
Many reviewers missed his point and criticized the plastic-wrapped hair instead of looking at the clothes, he said.
"Take a pill," the designer advised detractors of his stylized hair treatment.
Rucci, who said he never stops working, finds inspiration in works of art, literature, "everywhere," while creating "clothes that are not about fashion."
"They have to have longevity," he said.
To achieve this, Rucci uses only natural fabrics, such as cashmere, silk-linen gazar and silk jersey.
"They have an integral integrity," he said. "There's no longevity to synthetics."
Rucci cited the rigor and passion of Cristobal Balenciaga, the style of soft dressing invented by Madame Grés, Coco Chanel's idea of creating uniforms, the technical prowess of Charles James and the "genius" of Halston as informing his work. James Galanos taught him to be humble and to look at things with humor.
His admiration for the individual and elegant dressing styles of women such as Diana Vreeland, Pauline de Rothschild, Tina Chow and Gloria Guinness are always on his mind, Rucci said, although, "it's little clips in women that inspire me."
The designer stays away from advising women, even his clients, what to wear.
"Too many men tell women what to wear," he said. "If I were a psychiatrist, I'd see you individually, but I won't take that on."