Sterling WorkWhy Calvin Klein’s Raf Simons is Sterling Ruby’s #1 fan
Words by Harriet Quick
The fashion business is full of co-branding collaborations but the partnership between artist Sterling Ruby and Raf Simons is more akin to brotherhood. The friendship dates back over 12 years and their worlds are intrinsically intertwined.
Rather than ‘hand over’ a project, they set out on the creative journey together, pushing each other’s boundaries and challenging conventions and stereotypes. It’s what gives their work a future perspective.
On first encountering Ruby’s work, Simons says that he had never felt so fully immersed so quickly. While Ruby was raised in America to a military family and Simons in Belgium, they share a love of art, culture, music and both were young punks. They worked together on Raf Simon’s collection and also, at his debut couture collection at Dior, with Ruby’s splattered abstract artworks being translated into dazzling silk jacquard fabrics.
At Calvin Klein their partnership has shifted into a new gear as the team recalibrates the iconic American brand with Creative Director Pieter Mulier. Ruby has recently made over the iconic Madison Avenue store, once a temple to minimalism, with a temporary installation of bright yellow scaffolding hung with his hallmark fringing and flag inspired textiles.
For the launch of CALVIN KLEIN 205W39NYC at Lane Crawford, Sterling Ruby features his own artworks amongst a triumphant industrial installation, the clothes and the billboard advertising by Willy Vanderperre. The series features a cast of 22 models in the Mojave Desert, shot against billboards from the spring underwear campaign. It’s a study in art and artifice, wrapped up in the romance of a road trip and plays with the fantasy of fashion and the pulse of the real.
Whether you are in the market for a turtleneck top, a trucker jacket or a marching band top, make this your first pit stop.
