Last week it was announced that Sterling Ruby will be Pitti Uomo's 96 Special Guest (Florence, 11-14 June 2019). The American artist will present the first ready-to-wear collection by his S.R. STUDIO. LA. CA. brand on 13th June at the Pagliere.
Arty fashionistas know that Sterling Ruby has worked in different fields and using a wide range of materials, from painting and drawing to ceramics, fabric and textile collages.
He employed for example fabrics and textiles in his previous installations including the series "BC (3549)", a reference to bleach collage and in particular to bleach denim and canvas collages in which he repurposed rags, fabric scraps, clothing, and denim, and created several soft sculptures made from fabric stuffed with fibre fill.
Besides, he often collaborated with fashion designer Raf Simons: Ruby designed the interior for the brand's boutique in Tokyo in 2008; Simons employed denim bleached by the artist to create a collection of denim jeans and jackets in 2009, and, in 2012, he created fabrics with images of four of Sterling Ruby's paintings that then became part of Raf Simons' debut Haute Couture collection for Dior. The two creatives collaborated on Simons' A/W 14 menswear collection in what was maybe the most balanced example of a collection perfectly suspended between art and fashion. After Simons moved to Calvin Klein, Ruby was enlisted to redesign the interior of their New York showroom, and often designed the sets for the brand's shows.
Yet, despite all these links with fashion and despite the fact that in 2008, the artist designed a sort of workwear uniform made from the remnants of textile projects, his garments remained confined to the arty realm.
This is probably the main reason why Lapo Cianchi, Pitti Immagine's Director of Communication and Events, felt they had to justify their choice on the Pitti site explaining in a press release: "We have been very interested in the work of the artist Sterling Ruby for a long time, endeavors which are suspended between different areas with, at the center, a heterogeneous project dedicated to reinterpreting American workwear. This alone would be enough to justify Pitti Uomo's invitation to host the debut of the collection that will convey the project on to the fashion market."
What to expect from the showcase? In his work Sterling Ruby has often been inspired by elements from his rural Pennsylvania upbringing, by quilts and in particular by the quilters of Gee's Bend in Alabama (spotted on Simons' runways for Calvin Klein) as well as Boro textiles from Japan, so these ideas and motifs may appear on Ruby's runway.
Will the set feature soft sculptures and some of his abstract paintings tackling themes such as urbanism and vandalism or maybe his poured urethane sculptures? Maybe. Will the collection feature some items in collaboration with Raf Simons? Probably.
One surprising thing about this presentation, though, is the fact that, while collections aren't usually ready when the invitation to such showcases is formalised and announced, usually the organisers judge the possibility of inviting a guest from their previous collections and runways.
Choosing Sterling Ruby represents a bit of a risky choice, considering that he doesn't have any real and proper collections on the market (yes, on the runway his artworks worked well when combined with Simons' knowledge, especially when it came to menswear experiments) and bearing in mind that what works in a museum or on an arty runway doesn't often work on the shop floor (the Calvin Klein experience docet). As things stand maybe this was a "media revenue first" choice (Mr World in Starz's "American Gods" ordering Technical Boy to "Find Media", one of the New Gods, comes to your mind here...), done just to attract the attention of the press and hoping that the media revenue generated by the interest in the news about and around the event will produce real and tangible financial profits after the collection is presented in June.
As for Sterling Ruby there's one thing he should bear in mind: in some cases going to the Pitti proved fatal for some of the designers who showcased there - Giles Deacon stopped doing ready-to-wear; Thomas Tait quit the runway and then disappeared from the fashion scene; Band of Outsiders shut and rebranded, while Hood By Air co-founders Shayne Oliver and Leilah Weinraub put their brand on hold to focus on other personal projects. These are certainly not cases of bad luck, but maybe only the tangible proof that sometimes the organisers opted for trendy events and hip names to attract the attention of the fashion media, but, quite often, these projects weren't commercially viable. So, given these precedents, this may be Sterling Ruby's first and last foray into fashion with his own brand. Miss it at your peril.
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