THE SIGH OF CHANGES IN RUSSIAN FASHION
RUBAN brand was established in 2010 by sisters-designers Alice and Julia Ruban. They have come a long way in the fashion industry, growing from intern-assistants to high-demand stylists. As stylists, they felt a lack of creative solutions in design and were passionate and ambitious enough to set up their own fashion brand with the unique signature.
The RUBAN brand operates in the luxury segment and has strengthened its position in the home market in nine years since founding, proving its leadership in the Russian fashion industry.
A number of significant awards has reaffirmed the success of the designer duo. In November 2015 the "Designer of the year" prize was awarded to the RUBAN designers Alisa and Julia as a part of the Glamor magazine annual award ceremony "Woman of the year 2015".
In 2015, the RUBAN brand received accolades representing Russia at the international contest Grazia Next Glam Award that was held in Milan. In October 2015, Alisa and Julia Ruban took part in the project of Buro Fashion Forward Initiative organized by Buro 24/7 in Paris. RUBAN was handpicked by Miroslava Duma to show its collection to industry leaders, buyers and influencers within the project created to develop and support young talents. In December 2015, the brand introduced a capsule collection in Singapore which was specially created for the launch of Buro 24/7 Singapore.
Design duo RUBAN is rapidly gaining popularity on a worldwide level. Fashion expert and ex-editor of VOGUE France Carine Roitfeld included RUBAN brand in a review article about the Russian designers in her blog CR Fashion Book.
During four seasons RUBAN collection were presented by international online retailer Moda Operandi. In September 2016, RUBAN brand successfully presented SS’17 collection during PFW for international buyers, fashion influencers and industry’s leaders. Since then, the collections are available in the leading international stores, the number of them continue to grow every season.
The distinctive feature of RUBAN design is the incredibly gentle and sophisticated work with the delicate fabrics. Alisa and Julia, inspired by the world around, let the imagination transform their impressions into all the possible shapes and interlacings. Multilayered style and combination of various transparent&dense textures are the recognizable signatures of RUBAN collections.
Among the famous customers of the brand – Elena Perminova, Leandra Medine, Natalya Vodyanova, Ekaterina Mukhina (editor-in-chief of Elle Russia), Xenia Solovyeva (editor-in-chief of Tatler Russia), Miroslava Duma, Vanessa Hong of TheHautePursuit , Masha Fedorova (editor-in-chief of VOGUE Russia), Evelina Khromchenko, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Alex Riviere of Ariviere, Maja Weyhe of Majawyh.
Alice And Yulia Ruban created their own brand in 2011, and have been in business for six years now Ruban the main fashionable women of the secular Moscow: , Margarita Lieva, Ekaterina Mukhina and, in fact, the founder of the brand. By the way, they decided to create things back in the days when they worked as stylists in a glossy magazine (their first place of work was a magazine Glamor). Now at Ruban two lines: podium and more democratic - Pe for girls(named after Alice’s daughter Petra-Ivanna). Alice With Yuley told PEOPLETALK what inspires and motivates them, and also shared their plans for the future.
Alice And Julia were born in Moscow, but in early childhood the whole family moved to Kislovodsk. The parents of the future designers ran their own successful businesses, and this was primarily the impetus for starting their own business in the future. “Women have no advantage over men in business,” they say Alice And Julia. “This is a serious matter, and the results depend only on your professionalism.”
And, judging by how much the Russian brand is loved now, designers Ruban no problem with that.
“As a child, our parents taught us not to give up under any circumstances, and when we opened our own business, there may have been some fear (after all, creating your own brand is no joke), but we no longer remember this. All this gives you independence, a free schedule and, like a litmus test, shows what you are capable of. One of the disadvantages in our business is instability, but this is rather a characteristic of any business,” the sisters share Ruban.
Ruban is a brand that combines style, lightness and sophisticated cut. It’s not for nothing that the brand has transformable coats, decorated with opening buds (as in the spring collection), and classic olive-colored trench coats or, for example, shoes with heels in the shape of an oak leaf (sandals from) and mules with flat soles. Their famous trench coats, coats, knitted sweaters with dropped shoulders (which, by the way, are also in the new autumn collection) can be recognized from afar.
It seems that in such a schedule, when you spend days drawing sketches, thinking through collections to the smallest detail, spending time in the showroom and preparing for the show of the next collection, there is no time to take a break. But the founders Ruban they still find him.
In their free time, they travel (favorite country is Italy) and spend time with friends and family. “We read, watch films. We try to be where we can find inspiration for work.” Except for my sister's travels Ruban look for inspiration on the Internet: read about the latest trends, watch shows of famous designers.
“We spend so much time on social networks that it’s already very similar to addiction,” they say Julia and Alisa. By the way, daughter Alice Petra she's still a fashionista! She is only three, and her mother and aunt often joke on social networks about the fact that the girl has already decided on a profession: “My daughter loves fashion as much as her mother and aunt, so we, often jokingly, call her the successor of our business. As a joke, because it’s up to her to choose anyway, and no one knows what business will become her passion. But her love for beautiful things suggests that she inherited a professional orientation.
The heroines of Wonderzine's first publication do a variety of things - edit magazines and websites, open stores, design clothes, host dinners, sing in a band, make art and run international companies. They have one thing in common - everything they do makes the processes around them accelerate. They are energetic, professional, self-sufficient and attract people like them. It’s not for nothing that almost everyone responds to the question “Which girls inspire you?” They answer that they don’t know how to look up to people they don’t know personally. But other girls look up to them, who will become our heroines very soon.
Alisa and Yulia Ruban
designers of the RUBAN brand
Fashion industry
Russia has made a giant leap
On Alice and Yulia:
Clothes from the Ruban FW 2013 collection
How have the girls you know changed lately?
They have a simpler attitude towards fashion, create more interesting images, and follow trends less blindly. The fashion industry in Russia has made a giant leap, primarily thanks to the numerous blogs that began to set the style and direction in fashion along with designers. The mass market has also developed greatly. Now you can dress fashionably inexpensively. The choice is huge, prices are affordable. Nowadays fashion is not the privilege of only wealthy people, it has reached the streets, and we are very happy about it.
What's going on with entertainment in Moscow?
There is less snobbery in clubs, people smile and dress much more relaxed. The same goes for restaurants. More affordable establishments have appeared, despite the fact that their cuisine is excellent.
What are you doing now?
We are focused on developing abroad, we try to make a quality product and we are quite confident in ourselves and what we do.
Which girls inspire you?
Individuality inspires, especially if it matches our understanding of beauty and style. If a girl feels confident in her image, if it is a continuation of her. Naturalness. We really like Natasha Goldenberg, for example. If a girl has the same inside as she does on the outside, if she doesn’t need to appear, but just be, then everything is OK. This is important, because there is only one life. There are girls who forget who they really are. They follow the lead of society, magazines, which tell them what to do and what not to do. You need to stop and remember who you really are. Our good friend and simply beautiful and talented girl Karina Oshroeva has now created the city guide The Vanderlust. Also a wonderful project Second Friend Store, invented and created by two girls - Nastya and Anya. Zhenya Linovich makes amazing jewelry. And she works, like the rest of us. This is business. Yes, beloved, but business. Not entertainment for dad or husband's money. And we have a lot of respect for these girls.
Every week the editors ask one of their Muscovite acquaintances to take a photo on the street and tell him what brands he is wearing, where he bought them and where he prefers to buy clothes. This week, The Village photographed designer Yulia Ruban on Bolshaya Dmitrovka.
Yulia Ruban
Designer of the Ruban brand
He wears clothes of his own design, but buys shoes and accessories in trusted stores. Combines expensive items with basic knitwear from affordable brands.
On Julia: Ruban jacket, Ruban Style dress, Yves Saint Laurent bag, unknown brand boots, NTW glasses.
About things
About the stores
Since my sister and I started designing clothes, I hardly buy things. The exception is basic T-shirts and sweatpants from affordable brands. I especially love digging into the men's departments. Missoni is my old love. In Moscow, if we are talking about shoes or bags, I buy everything at TSUM. In addition, I really love Chanel shoes - this season my favorite sneakers are from there. Of course, I like to buy in Europe, but I don’t buy everything fanatically. Of the affordable brands, I prefer Marks & Spencer, Oysho, River Island and Uterqüe - sometimes you can find a real treasure there.
I don’t buy clothes on the Internet: for me shopping is also a tactile pleasure. I need to touch the thing, put it on, take it off, put it on again. Then it must be packaged beautifully, and I move on. As a result, you get tired, drink coffee or wine and put your purchases in the trunk. In general, I am not a customer of online stores.
Previously, my sister Alice and I could go to Milan and not sleep, not eat, but buy, search, until there was no money left for food at all. Now all this is in the past, I have become more relaxed about clothes and brands.
This was the most homely interview we've ever had! Alisa Ruban invited us to her home, where we talked about how the fashion designer of the duo Ruban combines her incredibly busy everyday life and work as a mother, and also talks about the unusual choice of a name for a child.
1. Tell us about your unusual choice of name for your daughter.
Oddly enough, the choice of name is not an idea made many years ago, as happens with many, but rather a matter of chance. When I was six months pregnant, one day, while talking with an old friend, whose wife, by the way, was also pregnant with a girl at that time, we discussed names. My husband and I had several options for names, but none of them stuck and there was no feeling that this was it. And so my friend, in a conversation about women's names, told me a funny story about how he met his first love at school age. Several children, it seems, from the Baltic states, came to their school as an exchange student. His whole story consisted of how he described meeting one of the girls who came to them. “Hello, my name is Yura, what’s yours?” “And I’m Petya,” the friend says with a laugh. And the full name of this girl was Petra. When I heard this name, I realized that it was perfect for our daughter and there simply couldn’t be any other options. By the way, we also call Petra Petya at home.
Alice in a Ruban sweater and skirt, Petra in a Polo Ralph Lauren jumper, Kuxo leggings.
In fact, Petya is a child of moods. At times she is very sociable and cheerful, and at times she does not react at all to what is happening around her and simply does not want to communicate. Maybe this feature is inherent in all children aged two to three years, I don’t know, this is my first child. But we try to do everything to keep it open. She meets a lot of different people during the week, and this is sure to be very helpful in developing sociability. For example, 3 times a week she goes to educational classes in a group of the same kids, where they sing, dance, sculpt, draw, learn letters and numbers and just have fun with each other. In addition, 2-3 times a week Petra goes to the gym for physical exercises, where she can jump, tumble and run to her heart’s content under the supervision of a trainer. Also, an English teacher comes to her 2 times a week, and they spend 2 hours together. On Sundays, I take Petra to our newly opened store in Barvikha, where I dress up the mannequins, and she just does whatever she wants. This is kind of our tradition, and when she leaves, she happily tells everyone that she is going to work.
3. For the shoot, you yourself chose Petra’s outfits and some of these boys’ clothes, tell us about the unusual choice and style you preferred for this shoot.
I myself often rummage through my husband’s wardrobe. I love shirts, oversized t-shirts and oversized jackets. I often buy clothes for Petya in the boys’ departments. This is more likely due to the very limited selection of cool things for girls. Huge cake dresses, pink clothes, bows, rhinestones and everything like that definitely don’t fit into Petra’s wardrobe. This is not at all because I really wanted a boy - by the way, quite the opposite, I dreamed of a girl - but because I want to see my daughter dressed fashionably and coolly. For example, can you find jackets for girls anywhere? Or cardigans without bows? And boys always have a large selection of such things. You can always dress your child in a T-shirt, cashmere sweatpants, an unbuttoned plaid shirt and a trench coat on top - and all this with sneakers or rough boots. At the same time, let her long hair down. Candid girly outfits make me sad, forgive me. But this is my personal opinion, I, of course, do not impose it on mothers who are delighted with pink tutu dresses and stripes with a huge flower on the still hairless heads of six-month-old girls, this is definitely a matter of individual taste.
On Alice: 3.1 Philip Lim trench coat, Brunello Cucinelli feather shoes, on Petra: Burberry trench coat, Bonnie Baby hat, Kuxo leggings, Cherie boots.
The most important thing for me is not to get what I need from Petra at any cost. At any age, even when the child does not quite understand what is happening and there is no connection between the action and the result, you need to remember what he feels intuitively. I don’t dwell on this topic, I don’t think every minute about how to behave, what to say, where all this will lead, etc., but I adhere to the rule of explaining everything, agreeing on compromises and, most importantly, doing what I said , even if Petra forgot about it herself. This will build trust in the parents' words. But I won’t hide that there are situations that all parents of children Petya’s age know about. Sometimes she just cries, refuses not only to negotiate, but even to listen to what they tell her. This is where a harsh parental word begins to work, which is not subject to appeal. This is difficult and unpleasant, but without showing toughness there is no education.
On Alice: 3.1 Philip Lim trench coat, Brunello Cucinelli feather shoes, on Petra: Burberry trench coat, Bonnie Baby hat, Kuxo leggings, Cherie boots.
I'm a thorough mom. I have everything under control. Working without being at home all days, often including Saturdays, I know thoroughly what Petra is doing, how the day goes, what she ate and drank, how she is in her mood, etc. The nannies keep a diary where absolutely everything is described. I really am one of those moms who is constantly looking for the best in everything. But this trait has real disadvantages. First of all, rigid views on almost all issues concerning the child. Plus the inability to switch off and, as a result, my virtually constant state of alert to solve any issue. This is quite exhausting, and I try and learn to approach some issues more simply and easily. Advice from a child psychologist is very helpful. We have our own permanent doctor, who comes about once every six months and gives advice based on the child’s age.
On Alice: 3.1 Philip Lim trench coat, Brunello Cucinelli feather shoes, on Petra: Burberry trench coat, Bonnie Baby hat, Kuxo leggings, Cherie boots.
6. Do you have any family traditions?The most important thing is Sunday lunch with the family. My parents and Yulia come to us, we prepare dinner and all sit down at the family table together. Petra usually sits at the head. Recently, it has become a tradition to go “to work” to our new store after a family dinner.
Parents help a lot. They take Petra to all her classes, mom takes an active part in nutrition, makes sure that the right, necessary products are available and food is prepared. The most important thing is that they live very close to us, and I am always calm. This is a very important feeling of stability and trust in your loved ones, on whom you can rely at any moment. And my sister brings tons of toys, from an electric car to small dolls, soon even in our fairly large playroom we will run out of space.
Alice is wearing: Christophe Lemaire jacket, TopShop leggings, Jimmy Choo shoes. On Petra: Simonetta hat, Kuxo turtleneck, Armani jacket, Dolce&Gabbana trousers and boots.
Probably it's all together. In this matter, the main thing is not to chase after something, but to build everything with your own hands. It seems to me that only in this case everything will be organic. And if, for example, you carry a child with you everywhere, because it is simply fashionable, but causes real inconvenience for the mother, then this benefits no one - neither the child nor her. I don’t consciously take Petra with me anywhere until she is less than three years old. I don’t see the point in knocking her out of her usual schedule, forcing her to sleep in fits and starts in a car seat, fighting motion sickness in the car, standing together in traffic jams. And to be honest, I don’t care that it’s fashionable and a lot of people do it.
Alice is wearing: Christophe Lemaire jacket, TopShop leggings, Jimmy Choo shoes. On Petra: Simonetta hat, Kuxo turtleneck, Armani jacket, Dolce&Gabbana trousers and boots.
So far everything is going as it is now. We'll see when we get closer to three years. We really want to introduce more English, plus there are plans for a ballet school. But we’ll do all this closer to spring.
10. What is Petra’s favorite thing to do with you?She loves to give out roles and recreate fairy tales in person. For example, I am most often a mother goat, and she is one of seven kids. We often build houses from large multi-colored cubes. She also likes to eat from my plate and try on my shoes. I don’t even know what will happen next...
Alice is wearing: Christophe Lemaire jacket, TopShop leggings, Jimmy Choo shoes. On Petra: Simonetta hat, Kuxo turtleneck, Armani jacket, Dolce&Gabbana trousers and boots.
