Ralph Rucci

{{Infobox fashion designer

| name = Ralph Rucci

| image =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1957}}

| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| nationality = American

| education = St. Joseph's Preparatory School, Temple University, Fashion Institute of Technology

| label_name = RR331

| awards = Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, 2008,
The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT, 2006
Pratt Institute Icon Award, 2009
The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts Visionary Award for Fashion, 2011
SCAD André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award, 2012
Honorary Doctoral Degree from Drexel University College of Art and Design, 2015

}}

Ralph Rucci (born 1957){{cite web |url= http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/designers/chado-ralph-rucci/ |title= Designers: Chado Ralph Rucci |publisher= Fashion Model Directory (FMD) |quote= Ralph Rucci was born in 1957 in Philadelphia |access-date= December 10, 2014}} is an American fashion designer and artist.{{cite news |url= http://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/2008/10/ralph_rucci?currentPage=1/|title=Ralph Rucci: In His Own Fashion |date=October 2008|work=W|access-date=14 December 2010 | first=Bridget| last=Foley}} He is known in particular for Chado Ralph Rucci, a luxury clothing and accessories line.{{cite news |url=http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/designers/bios/chadoralphrucci/|title=Chado Ralph Rucci|work=New York Magazine|year=2010 |access-date=6 February 2011}} Rucci's clothing designs have appeared in a number of major exhibitions, and he has won significant fashion-industry awards. The designer, whose clothing has received positive critical response in the fashion press, is the subject of a recent documentary.

Life and career

File:Ralph Rucci "Stingray Swan" evening gown, ready-to-wear collection, Spring-Summer 2001.jpg)]]

Rucci was born and raised in Philadelphia, and holds a degree in philosophy from Temple University. At the age of 21, he moved to New York to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology and later trained under Halston and a Balenciaga patternmaker. He had his first formal show at New York's Westbury Hotel in 1981,{{cite magazine |url= http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/fashion-articles/celebrating-ralph-rucci-0207?click=main_sr|title=CELEBRATING 25 YEARS: RALPH RUCCI |date=February 2007|magazine=Harper's Bazaar|access-date=6 February 2011 | first=Kristina| last=O'Neill}} but launched Chado Ralph Rucci over a decade later, in 1994, and began showing at New York Fashion Week in 1999. In 2002, Rucci became the first American designer in more than 60 years to be invited to show in Paris by the French Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture (the only other designer to be so honored was Mainbocher),{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jul-12-lv-rucci12-story.html |title=American in Paris |date=12 July 2002|work= Los Angeles Times|access-date=6 February 2011| first=Michael Quintanilla| last=Achrene Sicakyuz}} and he showed his haute couture collections in Paris for the next five seasons. He has twice been nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America's Womenswear Designer of the Year Award. Rucci is also a painter, who has exhibited in art galleries throughout the U.S.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/style/06iht-frucci.html |title=Delicate collages from Ralph Rucci|date=7 June 2005|work= The New York Times|access-date=14 December 2010| first=Suzy| last=Menkes}} His paintings, exhibited at the Serge Sorokko Gallery in San Francisco in December, 2012, were described by Architectural Digest as "enigmatic works... bearing sweeping brushstrokes that are collaged, here and there, with scraps of silken fabrics."{{cite news |url=http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2012/12/ralph-rucci-san-francisco-serge-sorokko-gallery-exhibition |title=Fashion Designer Ralph Rucci's San Francisco Art Exhibit |work=Architectural Digest |date=December 17, 2012 |first=Mitchell |last=Owens}}

From the beginning of his career, Rucci was inspired by the style of such fashion icons as Elsa Peretti (for her "biomorphic nature") and Pauline de Rothschild (for "creating harmony out of disorder").Women's Wear Daily, U.S. 31 December 1985. Retrieved 7 February 2011.{{cite news |url=http://www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/vd-puppy-love/ |title=Puppy Love|date=15 June 2009|work= Vogue|access-date=6 February 2011| first=André Leon| last=Talley}} Rucci's influences also include the painters Cy Twombly, Franz Kline, Antoni Tàpies and Francis Bacon, sculptor Louise Nevelson, Japanese symbolism, and the designer James Galanos.{{cite news |url=http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/articulations/2007/04/ralph-rucci-from-museum-to-runway-and-back-again/ |title=Ralph Rucci: From Museum to Runway and Back Again |date=13 April 2007|work= Smithsonian|access-date=6 February 2011| first=Stephanie| last=Murg}} Rucci's "individual mind" has been praised, as well as his "distinct point of view," as The New York Times noted in a review on a 2007 Rucci exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/fashion/18RUCCI.html?scp=2&sq=chado%20ralph%20rucci&st=cse |title=The Reckoning: Ralph Rucci at F.I.T. |work=The New York Times |date=January 18, 2007 |first=Cathy |last=Horyn}}

In 2007, fashion historian Valerie Steele wrote The Art of Weightlessness, an illustrated monograph published by the Yale University Press on the occasion of Rucci's exhibition at the FIT Museum.{{cite news |isbn=978-0300122787 |title=Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessnesss |work=Amazon.com |last1=Steele |first1=Valerie |last2=Mears |first2=Patricia |last3=Sauro |first3=Clare |date=January 2007 }} In 2008, the documentary Ralph Rucci: A Designer and His House, narrated by Martha Stewart, premiered on the Sundance Channel.{{cite news |url=http://www.sundancechannel.com/films/500325019 |title=Ralph Rucci: A Designer and His House |year=2008|work= Sundance Channel|access-date=16 February 2011| first=David| last=Boatman}} In 2011, Rucci was inducted into the Fashion Group International Walk of Fame.{{cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/design-times-oleg-cassini-ralph-rucci-added-fashion-walk-fame-article-1.113676 |title=Design of the times: Oleg Cassini, Ralph Rucci added to Fashion Walk of Fame|date=20 April 2011|work= New York Daily News|access-date=12 January 2013| first=Gina| last=Salamone}} In December 2011, Bauer and Dean published Autobiography of a Fashion Designer: Ralph Rucci, with photographs by Baldomero Fernandez. In 2012, Rucci received an André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design.{{cite news |url=http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/rucci-to-be-honored-5848298 |title=Ralph Rucci to Be Honored|date=9 April 2012|work= Women's Wear Daily|access-date=12 January 2013| first=Rosemary| last=Feitelberg}}

Chado Ralph Rucci

Rucci launched the Chado Ralph Rucci line in 1994, "chado" coming from the Japanese tea ceremony noted for its attention to detail, exactitude, sense of austere style, and expertise on the part of the practitioner.{{cite news |url=http://www.departures.com/articles/up-next-designer-ralph-rucci|title=Up Next, Designer Ralph Rucci|work=Departures Magazine|date= September 2002 |access-date=6 February 2011| first=Julia| last=Szabo}}

According to Cathy Horyn of The New York Times, "Mr. Rucci’s clothes have a devotion to elegance that can feel as pitiless as a sermon on a hot summer day,"{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/fashion/13REVIEW.html|title=Ralph Rucci Adds Some Strut|work=The New York Times |date=February 12, 2010 |access-date=14 December 2010 |first=Cathy |last=Horyn}} while Robin Givhan of The Washington Post wrote that "Rucci's clothes are aspirational in every sense of the word. They ooze luxury from 100 paces, yet they are not ostentatious. They look expensive because every seam is perfect, every button exactly placed, every skirt has just the right lift. No dress of his would dare wrinkle."{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/18/AR2009091800119.html |title=The Right Way On the Runway: Backward|date=20 September 2009|newspaper= The Washington Post|access-date=6 February 2011| first=Robin| last=Givhan}}

Rucci's gowns are included in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Phoenix Art Museum, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Texas Fashion Collection in Denton, Texas, among others.

Museum exhibitions

2003: Rucci's gown was included in "Goddess" exhibition at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, N.Y.{{cite news |url=http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Goddess/goddess_more.htm|title=Special Exhibitions: Goddess|date=1 May 2003|work=Metropolitan Museum of Art official website |access-date=27 March 2011}}
2004: Rucci's gown was included in "Goddess" exhibition at the Mode Museum in Antwerp, Belgium{{cite news |url=http://www.momu.be/en/exhibitions/past/2004/?referer=tcm:7-15857-64|title=Goddess|date=8 May 2004|work=Mode Museum official website |access-date=27 March 2011}}
2005: Rucci's designs were included in “Cut and Construction: The Foundations of Fashion” exhibition at the Pratt Institute in New York, N.Y.{{cite news |url= http://www.wwd.com/eyescoop/eye/scene-chow-down-edifying-edie-totally-eighties-585133?full=true|title=Scene: Chow Down ... Edifying Edie ... Totally Eighties ... |date=5 February 2005|work=Women's Wear Daily|access-date=27 March 2011 | first=Marshall | last=Hayman}}
2005: Chado Ralph Rucci was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Costume Institute of the Kent State University Museum in Kent, Ohio.[http://einside.kent.edu/default.aspx?type=art&id=4290 Ralph Rucci Collection Takes the Stage at Kent State University Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723000836/http://einside.kent.edu/default.aspx?type=art&id=4290 |date=2011-07-23 }} at Kent.edu
2005: a Chado Ralph Rucci garment was included in the "She's Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion" exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, N.Y.{{cite news |url=http://fashionmuseum.fitnyc.edu/code/emuseum.asp?emu_action=collection&collection=27&collectionname=She's%20Like%20a%20Rainbow%3A%20Colors%20in%20Fashion%20Exhibition¤trecord=1&moduleid=1|title=Objects: She's Like a Rainbow: Colors in Fashion Exhibition|work=Fashion Institute of Technology. Official website|access-date=27 March 2011}}
2006: Rucci's designs were exhibited at a group show entitled "Breaking the Mode" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in Los Angeles, California.[http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibMode.aspx Breaking the Mode: Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204230814/http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibMode.aspx |date=2010-12-04 }} at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
2006: a Rucci gown was included in the "Glamour: Fashion, Film, Fantasy" exhibition at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, N.Y.{{cite news |url=http://fitsuny.edu/aspx/Content.aspx?menu=PastGlobal:Museum:Exhibitions:ExhibitionPressReleases:PastPressReleases&content=2005_01_12_Glamour|title=Glamour: Fashion to Die For at the Museum at FIT|date=12 January 2005|work=Fashion Institute of Technology. Official website|access-date=27 March 2011}}
2006: Rucci's designs were included in the "Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture" exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, California[http://www.moca.org/media/gal_guides/sb_galleryguide.pdf Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716090022/http://www.moca.org/media/gal_guides/sb_galleryguide.pdf |date=2011-07-16 }} at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
2007: a solo installation entitled "Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessness" was mounted at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, N.Y.{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/style/09iht-rrucci.4539024.html|title=Ralph Rucci, the weightless designer - Style & Design - International Herald Tribune |date=9 February 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=14 December 2010 | first=Suzy| last=Menkes}}
2008: a retrospective solo exhibition opened at the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.[http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/exhibitionchado.php Chado Ralph Rucci] at Phoenix Art Museum.{{cite news |url= http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-04-03/culture/chado-ralph-rucci-an-exhibition-of-haute-fashion-at-phoenix-art-museum/ |title="Chado Ralph Rucci": an exhibition of haute fashion at Phoenix Art Museum |date=April 2008|work=Phoenix New Times|access-date=19 November 2010 | first=Lilia| last=Menconi}}
2008: Rucci's gowns went on exhibit entitled "A Passion for Perfection: James Galanos, Gustave Tassell, Ralph Rucci" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |url= http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/274.html|title=A Passion for Perfection: James Galanos, Gustave Tassell, Ralph Rucci|date=15 September 2007|work=Philadelphia Museum of Art Official website}}
2009: Rucci's designs were included in the group show "American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion" at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, N.Y.{{cite news |url= http://www.fitnyc.edu/5520.asp|title=American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion|date=12 August 2009|work=Fashion Institute of Technology Museum official website}}
2010: a collection of Rucci's haute couture gowns went on exhibit entitled "Extending the Runway: Tatiana Sorokko Style", at the Moscow Fashion Museum in Moscow, Russia.{{cite news |url=http://valeriesteelefashion.com/blog/valerie-in-moscow/|title=Valerie Steele in Moscow|date=14 May 2010|work=Valeriesteelefashion.com |access-date=6 February 2011 | first=Valerie| last=Steele}}
2010: a Halston gown, designed by Rucci when he worked for the House of Halston in the late 1970s, was attributed to Ralph Rucci and included in the "American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection" exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, N.Y.{{cite news |url=http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/american_high_style/|title=Exhibitions: American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection|date=7 May 2010|work=Brooklyn Museum official website |access-date=6 February 2011}}
2012: Rucci's designs went on exhibit at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum in Savannah, Georgia.[http://www.scad.edu/news/2012/ralph-rucci-fashion-show.cfm Ralph Rucci to be honored at annual SCAD fashion show with Andre Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919193201/http://www.scad.edu/news/2012/ralph-rucci-fashion-show.cfm |date=2012-09-19 }} at Savannah College of Art and Design Museum.

Awards and honors

2005: The Star Award from the Fashion Group International of New York{{cite news |url=https://rrucci.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ralph_rucci_biography.pdf |title=Ralph Rucci Official Bio|work=rrucci.com|access-date=20 April 2018}}
2006: The Artistry of Fashion Award from The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT{{cite news |url=http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/Chado_Ralph_Rucci::sub::Awards_And_Recognition |title=Chado Ralph Rucci: Awards And Recognition|year=2008|work= Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Official Website|access-date=14 December 2010}}
2008: The Fashion Design Award of the National Design Awards Program of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum{{cite news |url=http://www.nationaldesignawards.org/2008/honoree/ralph-rucci |title=National Design Awards: Ralph Rucci |year=2008|work= Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Official Website|access-date=14 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930135142/http://www.nationaldesignawards.org/2008/honoree/ralph-rucci|archive-date=30 September 2011}}
2008: A Doctor of Philosophy degree honoris causa from the San Francisco Academy of Art University{{cite news |url=http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/04/prweb843814.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503050447/http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/04/prweb843814.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 3, 2008 |title=Academy of Art University Fashion School Announces 2008 Honorary Doctorate Recipients |date=13 April 2008|work= PRweb.com|access-date=14 December 2010}}
2009: The Pratt Institute Icon Award.{{cite news |url=http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/awards_competitions/ralph_rucci_to_receive_pratt_fashion_icon_award_106383.asp |title=Ralph Rucci to Receive Pratt Fashion Icon Award |date=14 May 2009| work= Mediabistro.com|access-date=4 February 2011| first=Stephanie|last=Murg}}
2011: The first Visionary Award for Fashion from the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts {{cite news |url=http://www.kimmelcenter.org/news/index.php?id=242|title=PIFA Celebrates Haute Couture with Fashion Show|date=24 February 2011|work=Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts official website |access-date=26 March 2011}}
2011: Inducted into the Fashion Group International International Walk of Fame{{cite news |url=https://rrucci.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ralph_rucci_biography.pdf |title=Ralph Rucci Official Bio|work=rrucci.com|access-date=20 April 2018}}
2012: The Andre' Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award from SCAD{{cite news |url=https://rrucci.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ralph_rucci_biography.pdf |title=Ralph Rucci Official Bio|work=rrucci.com|access-date=20 April 2018}}
2015: Honorary Doctoral Degree from Drexel University College of Art and Design{{cite news |url=https://rrucci.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ralph_rucci_biography.pdf |title=Ralph Rucci Official Bio|work=rrucci.com|access-date=20 April 2018}}

References

Notes

Bibliography

Bissonnette, Anne. Chado Ralph Rucci. Exhibition catalogue. Kent, Ohio. Kent State University Museum, 2005
Rucci, Ralph. Ralph Rucci with Iké Udé: Dialogues with Design Legends. New York: 92nd Street Y, 2009
Rucci, Ralph and Fernandez, Baldomero. Autobiography of a Fashion Designer: Ralph Rucci. New York: Bauer and Dean, 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-9838632-9-8}}
Sewell, Dennita. Extending the Runway: Tatiana Sorokko Style. Moscow: Russian Fashion Museum, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-615-34760-8}}
Steele, Valerie; Mears, Patricia and Sauro, Clare. Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessness. New York: Yale University Press, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-300-12278-7}}

External links

{{Official website|https://rr331.house}}
{{Fashiondesigner|chado-ralph-rucci|Chado Ralph Rucci}}
[http://www.artnet.com/artists/ralph%2Drucci/ Ralph Rucci at artnet.com]
[http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/09/09/fashion/shows/1194817107178/ralph-rucci.html Ralph Rucci] at The New York Times video
[http://wn.com/Chado_Ralph_Rucci Chado Ralph Rucci at World News]
[https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2015-ready-to-wear/ralph-rucci Spring 2015 Ready to Wear Collection on Vogue.com]

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Artists from Philadelphia

Category:American fashion designers

Category:Clothing brands of the United States

Category:Temple University alumni

Category:Fashion Institute of Technology alumni

Category:High fashion brands

Category:American businesspeople in fashion

Category:Companies based in New York City

Category:1957 births

Category:Living people