from the recent fashion related lectures at NYU, Ralph Rucci talked on his theories about fashion, art and ..perfection 
extracts from wwdRalph Rucci evoked a Sunday-like reverence for past and present designers as he spoke at his session, titled “What Makes Fashion Art: A Designer’s Perspective.” Rucci’s theory? It’s not the couture, it’s the couturier. “It’s the person that makes it art,” he said. “It has to do with the couturier’s grasp of historical references and fine art and his understanding of proportion.”
And according to him, in the hands of the right couturier, even a basic T-shirt can be elevated to artistic status. Theoretically, of course. In reality, Rucci, dressed in a crisp open-necked white shirt and gray suit, showed slides of the day and evening work of a handful of designers he adoringly referred to as “touchstones in our profession of a level of perfection.”
Not surprisingly, the designer focused on technique over embellishment. “It’s what’s in the garment, not on the garment,” he explained. “Madame Gres cuts a taffeta dress [from a piece of cloth] the width of this room, and a woman can walk in it and still have a quietude; that for me is genius.” But before getting into the meat of his discourse, Rucci was careful to make the pointed disclaimer that his choices were only that — choices. “Please don’t misunderstand,” he asked of his audience. “This is a personal view.”
The disclaimer, which he revisited a few times within the course of the hour, served as the counterpoint to the impassioned tone with which Rucci detailed the technical artistry of designers such as Cristobal Balenciaga, Charles James, Geoffrey Beene, Madame Gres, Miuccia Prada and James Galanos. “I am from the school of the academy of this man,” he said of Balenciaga. The mantle of “greatest living fashion designer ever” was bestowed upon James. Of Prada, he proclaimed, “Just imagine if we didn’t have Miuccia Prada. It would be rather dull across the board in world fashion.” He even doled out an accolade to fellow speaker Koos van den Akker, sitting in the audience, for his collage work. But it was Madame Alix Gres he saved for last. “I’m ending with the oracle,” he said, embarking on a series of Gres slides. “To me, she is like a church. She is an institution.”
