Interview with Raun La Rose

Born and raised in New York, he's constantly traded for a tourist because of his "Southern Manierism" and has a real admiration for skate culture: we are talking about the talented designer Raun LaRose.

Defined as "The Future of Menswear" by Vogue Italia and "Designer On The Rise" by Dazed and Confused, he is now in his second year on the New York Men's Fashion Week schedule.

We contacted him to find out what it's like to be an emerging designer in the Big Apple.

#1 Hi Raun, let’s talk a bit about you: what should we know about Raun LaRose?

I really have an admiration for skate culture and I'm going to start learning from a few kids hopefully this fall. It's something that I've always wanted to do, but with time and the fact that I've gotten older it's become some sort of a fear being that I think more of the consequences of possibly falling or getting injured, but that's also a part of the reason why I want to try it out at least.  Just to do something that's completely unexpected from me and not worry about looking cool or being perfect. I just really want to experience. I'm also working on building a non-profit organization based around artistic programs for youth in NYC. I've done a few volunteer projects over the years and I feel it would be a great effort for me to find a way to influence or introduce fashion to kids that might not get to experience it on an everyday level.

#2 Your brand brings your name, why so? Have you ever thought of giving it a different name? 

My brand is a reflection of who I am as a person, so I wouldn't want it to be named anything else because for me it wouldn't feel the same. When I was younger I never liked the name my parents chose for me. Most of my friends had regular names like Paul, Edwin, Chad, etc, so I always felt a bit awkward but when I started designing that I felt my name worked well for what is I do.
My name is pronounced "Ron", but the spelling is "Raun" and I think it fits for how I work aesthetically in terms of traditional meaning, but not so traditional in the presentation.

#3 In 2009 you founded your own brand: what are the difficulties of being an independent  designer in New York?

Being an indie designer is difficult all around but I find it a bit more challenging in NY because there aren't a lot of programs here that help support or fund emerging/ independent brands. When I first started, I thought that having great designs and strong enough ideas were enough to get the right people to notice what I was doing, but with struggle and a lot of frustrating moments, I started to realize that we're in a time where fashion more celebrates the commerce with art coming secondary.

#4 Exaggerated volumes and proportion games are kind one of your trademarks: which are your esthetical sources of inspiration? 

When I was a kid my favorite designers were Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin. I would always get excited looking at their work because they had really exciting points of view to me. I didn't know at the time why I felt that way, But as I've gotten older I've realized that I like shapes. I like exaggerating the idea of what we consider to be reality and twisting the gears a bit.  

#5 What moves you to always push fashion boundaries? 

The fact that I haven't seen some of the things that I thought or expected I'd see at this point of my life. Granted I'm still young, I've been a fan of fashion since I was about 6-7 so that's about 24 yrs of experiencing and I just started to feel like things were stuck. If you look at a timeline of fashion from a historical standpoint it kind of comes to a stop around the 2000s when technology became a thing: shapes and concepts are constantly being reused  (the 70s,80s,90s) and it's become more a "recycle" factor and for me it's about staying true to what I feel on the inside and just trying to find new ways to move forward.

#6 Your SS18 collection presentation, System Down, can be read as an analysis of the current state of fashion in mainstream society… 

Well to tie back to what I said earlier I just feel where in a place where commerce is the focus all the way around.  It's really hard to process designer collections or even get to understand a designers point of view anymore. There's so much saturation in the market that it's just almost impossible for newer brands to even get a proper platform, So that's where the title system down emerged from. It was more of me taking a look at where I stand and reacting from my point of view of the current system.

#7 Talking about communication, how important is for nowadays designers being able to move among the different media?

It's the way of life at this point. If people don't know what you do, then it makes your efforts go in vain.

#8 Could you describe the connection between your collection and the NY skate scene?

It has a lot to do with the silhouettes and keeping things practical. Most skaters in NY and all over just want to be comfortable: it's not about fashion or looking cool but, for me, I get inspired by the basic silhouettes of the tees, bombers, hoodies etc. For example, in connection to the shoot Jeremie himself (ed. the skater) chose what he felt most comfortable in and we shot him in action. 

photographer Monet Lucki for Raun LaRose