Rag & Bone could not host a presentation this season due to the coronavirus pandemic. In these extenuating circumstances, Vogue Runway has made an exception to its policy and is writing about this collection via photos and remote interviews.
This Rag & Bone collection, due in stores in November and December, was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting the United States. With holiday parties and long-distance vacations now in question during that time frame, readying the line for sales appointments required a thorough edit. “It’s not a collection of sweatpants,” Marcus Wainwright said. “But we did ask ourselves, ‘What makes our customer feel good?’”
For the Rag & Bone team, it came down to comfort, quality, and a certain indispensability. Wainwright’s instincts had been pushing him in this direction pre-coronavirus. He’d already learned to distrust trends and the tendency—not just at R&B, but industry-wide—to try to be all things to all shoppers. But the crisis accelerated the self-examination and winnowing processes. What remains is an offering of not-quite basics, essentials with a long shelf life. Wainwright holds up as his standard-bearer a 70-year-old Savile Row–made blazer he inherited from his father. Making it to the year 2090 is a lot to ask of a garment in this fast-fashion era, but the tailoring in both the women’s and men’s offerings, built as it is on traditional English haberdashery, has a fighting chance. Meanwhile, the chief virtue of a warm winter coat modeled off of an old M42 army sleeping bag is exactly how ur-2020 it is: meaning it looks as cozy as a warm hug. Remember those?
