Isabel and Ruben Toledo Talk Form and Fashion
"You don't need much of anything to start – just energy and enthusiasm. Don't let anyone tell you there is a right way to do it."
So said fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo about undertaking a career in fashion at the lecture he gave with his designer wife, Isabel, at Manhattan's Parsons the New School for Design on the evening of Tuesday, March 6th.
Though it was ostensibly aimed at Parsons' fashion and illustration students - who lapped up the Toledos' advice and hard-won wisdom like so many thirsty young pups - the 90-minute lecture, entitled "Form Follows Fashion: Isabel and Ruben Toledo," was an inspirational call to arms for any creative-thinking person who yearns to follow their dream but isn't quite sure how to go about it.
Of course, the Toledos' story is a bit more romantic than most rags-to-riches tales. Both Cuban immigrants, the two met in suburban New Jersey as teens in the 1970s and have pretty much been together ever since - and they are still clearly besotted with each other. On top of that, despite a few minor blips on the career front, they've been unusually successful from the get-go, he as a well-respected fashion illustrator and mannequin designer (you may know his work from those Nordstrom ads) and she as a insider-favorite fashion designer (Isabel's line was picked up by Barneys in the mid-80s and her eponymous collection has always a huge cult following, and last month she debuted her first collection for Anne Klein, where she was recently named creative director). But they've always played by their own rules. Not bad for a couple of down-to-earth, envelope-pushing iconoclasts.
That's not to say it's always been easy, or that the Toledos didn't work hard to get to where they are today. After a brief slide show outlining Isabel's design aesthetic (based on the principles of shape, liquid architecture, organic geometry, origami, suspension and shadow), Ruben told stories about the completely self-taught duo scrambling to make their early orders for Barneys and other stores, with Isabel (who has never taken a fashion design or pattern making class) cutting and sewing the clothes from patterns that Ruben (who never studied art) sketched, and the two of them delivering the items to each store themselves.
"It was a crash course in business," Ruben told the rapt students, a big grin on his face. Throughout, the couple asked questions of the audience, too, resulting in a lecture that was anything but, and that clearly demonstrated their winning curiosity about the world around them, which continues to inform their work.
"Limitation is the mother of invention," Isabel opined a few minutes later, when asked how she had come up with some of her more unusually shaped garments, such as "The Hermaphrodite" dress and "The Packing" dress. (Lack of funds and materials had forced her to think outside the box, as it were.) "I'm in love with the technique of sewing," she added when asked why she chose a career as a designer. "I always loved to sew."
She also discussed her love of draping, and spoke of being enamored of fabric and using 3-D techniques to invent sculptural shapes that work in tandem with the body beneath, which is one of the reasons her garments flatter a wide range of physiques.
Isabel visibly blanched, however, when the moderator called her an artist, protesting, "I'm not an artist. I make things that are of service. To think of myself as an artist would be decadent."
Ruben, who is an artist, was equally pragmatic and described taking whatever work came his way in the early days, "from painting portraits to a sign for a barber shop," and he counseled his young audience to take paying commercial gigs if it allowed one to do other, creatively fulfilling work that didn't bring in as much cash.
And even now, with Isabel fresh off her critically lauded Anne Klein debut and Ruben poised for the release of his new book, "Fashionation," the duo remain decidedly humble.
"Earn your freedom," Ruben told the students after being asked about the challenges of balancing his commercial work with more 'artistic' gigs. "Keep your freedom. There are no limitations on what you want to do if you love it."
Afterward, the two were surrounded by students proffering illustrations for an autograph (from him) and fashion portfolios for critique (from her), and the couple treated all comers with genuine kindness and consideration.
"Really, the thing is to let them know they can do it their way," Isabel told The Fashion Informer after spending several minutes in deep conversation with a young Asian student, who had laid out her fashion sketches on the floor of the stage for the designer to assess. "Because there’s only one thing that is individual: You. There is only one source that no one else has anything else to do with: You. Whatever comes from you is original. No matter what it is. So you’ve got that down. You don’t have to worry about being original or not. It’s a given."
She paused to say good-bye to a friend. "I think that’s an important message for them to hear. There’s no need to try and outdo somebody else. Be yourself. Outdo yourself."
So much passion and magic in his work that I completely identify with. He's an amazing artist.
his works are very self assured ... and i love isabel also 
