As well as that all-important 21st-century ampersand, Ralph & Russo have got it all going on. They’ve built their business at a dizzying speed by speaking directly to and providing unstinting service for their women: rich, got-to-catch-a-jet, glamour-hungry women. Yet the designers are not snobs, they care deeply about the quality of their work, and they care about those clients.
This 35-look second ready-to-wear collection from the couture upstarts was slightly confoundingly not held as a show but a presentation in the same Paris salon where they entertain their enormous couture client base. The point was to let us mingle with the product: The product stood up to the mingling.
The predictable glamazon stuff was beautifully made and executed: trench dresses and biker jackets with bouclé inserts and a big emphasis on removable arms. Gold and velvet variations of a one-shoulder evening gown Angelina Jolie has already made red carpet hay in—a continuation style from last season’s London show RTW debut—were impeccable. Expect serious R&R action at the Oscars this Sunday. There was a fabulous little cream cardigan with patched inserts of metallic lamé and sequin that looked both casual and rich, worn above a gold midi skirt that looked less casual but very rich.
The really interesting piece was a devastating biker-fronted black jumpsuit in a laminated paper-thin technical material. It had perfectly placed cargo pockets, and was cutely cinched by a rubberized waistline: The model wearing it was evidently very happy. With a pair of scuffed Converse it would have looked properly cool: almost Hedi cool. This was a hint that R&R might have real chops in communicating beyond the elevated but pretty unreal, to the 99 percent rest of us that they don’t already sing to. Underestimate this brand at your peril.
