Rag & Bone CEO and creative director Marcus Wainwright caused some ripples in the fashion community earlier this year when he announced that his fashion brand would nix future runway shows, including one of the industry’s crown jewels, New York Fashion Week.
“For a while now, I (along with what seems to be a lot of people!) have been questioning the effectiveness of the traditional fashion system, particularly for Rag & Bone. Coupled with everything that’s going on in the world today, it felt somewhat tone deaf to do a runway show or throw a huge event,” Wainwright said in a statement. “So while we are huge believers in NYFW, and in many ways have it to thank for so much, we are opting out of being on the calendar this season and instead are doing something that we feel is more relevant, impactful, and meaningful.”
And that “something” is a series of striking selfies.
In lieu of a traditional runway show featuring its spring/summer 2018 collection, Rag & Bone is offering individual appointments to press and industry, as well as a series of self-portraits from an array of models, actors, artists, etc. The retailer is also adding a philanthropic angle to the campaign by making a donation to whichever charity each participant chose to support, including Lupus Foundation of America, Earth Justice, and Open Door Foundation.
“Last season we focused on individuality, allowing friends of the brand to style themselves in the new collection,” Wainwright says. “For our spring season, we wanted to explore individual perspective as we feel that it is a relevant topic, both for our brand and in the context of all that is happening socially and politically around the world.”
Check out Rag & Bone’s alternative “runway” show in the slide show above.
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