Ralph Rucci: Autobiography of a Fashion Designer
Photographs by Baldomero Fernandez
Contributions by Ralph Rucci
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
This photography book is a visual feast that reveals, through images, the inspirations behind the creative genius of fashion designer Ralph Rucci. This beautiful book offers an intimate tour, giving the reader unprecedented access to both Rucci’s private and professional lives. In page after page, the man behind the remarkable creations is divulged as the reader absorbs more than a thousand photographs of his home and studio. David Patrick Columbia of New York Social Diary calls the book “a treasure” and a “collector’s item,” giving the book high praise “because of the brilliance of the content [and] the quality.”
December 2011
Hardcover, cloth, in slipcase
256 pages
1,000 color photographs
11.25 x 11.25 inches
ISBN: 978-0983863298
$125.00
Description
Inspired by artist Sol LeWitt’s photography book Autobiography, this beautiful volume reveals the behind-the-scenes inspirations and processes of the American couturier Ralph Rucci. Expanding the notion of home as autobiography, photographer Baldomero Fernandez not only documents every aspect of the famed fashion designer’s home, he also spent close to a year visiting the Chado: Ralph Rucci workroom on lower Broadway while Rucci and his team created the spring and fall collections for 2011.
Autobiography of a Fashion Designer opens with photographs of Rucci’s apartment where the accumulation of objects—and how they are arranged—provides a glimpse at Rucci’s personality and life, revealing his taste and influences, his travels and quirks. Among the many people and objects that inspire him are Elsa Peretti, Balenciaga, Pauline de Rothschild, Chinese furniture, and books, books, and more books. The second half documents Rucci’s workroom and the techniques that distinguish Rucci as a designer, elucidating what makes him a true American original.
Scattered among the hundreds of photographs are quotes and stories from Rucci that give glimpses of what is important to him, personally and in the creation of one of his exquisite garments that represent the highest quality of handcraftsmanship.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rucci earned a degree in Philosophy at Temple University. He trained under Halston and a Balenciaga patternmaker and held his first formal show in 1981. He launched his house, Chado: Ralph Rucci, in 1996, and in 2002, Rucci was invited to show in Paris—the first American-based designer ever to receive the honor. Rucci’s clothing designs have appeared in a number of major exhibitions, and he has won significant fashion-industry awards during his career.
About the Photographer
Baldomero Fernandez (b.1973), who grew up in Miami, Florida, first began taking photographs at age fourteen. He graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology and moved to New York City to start a career in photography. Fernandez has directed video and multimedia shorts for CR Fashion Book, The Aesthete and several high-profile fashion brands and artists. His photographs have appeared in publications such as Life, The New Yorker, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and W Magazine. He was honored by MTV for a video PSA encouraging voter participation. Fernandez was also awarded The Communication Arts Magazine Editorial Award of Excellence for his work done in Cuba and The Workshops Golden Light Award. His documentary work has received accolades from the Center Awards in Santa Fe and The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University (for his project Middletown). His work has consistently appeared in the American Photography Annual since 1999 and is included in the Martin Margulies Permanent Collection. Among the things that excite Fernandez the most in life are toeing the line at a marathon or triathlon race and being up in the country with a flashlight in hand looking for frogs and snails at night with his then 5-year-old son.
