Rag & Bone stages a portrait series with a charitable tie-in in lieu of NYFW show

By

Emily Jensen

Published
Sep 8, 2017

The New York-based label asked its portrait subjects to select a charity for the brand to donate to. Rag & Bone will also hold invite-only appointments for its Spring 2018 collection, but will not stage a runway show.
 

With many New York designers opting to move their shows to Paris or alternative locations, Rag & Bone has decided not to stage a fashion show at all. The fashion label tapped models and actors such as Carolyn Murphy, Lil Buck, Georgia Fowler, Selah Marley and Tali Lennox to wear pieces from the new collection for its self-portrait series.
 
Among the charities chosen to receive donations through the project are the Lupus Foundation of America, Earth Justice, Open Door Foundation and Oceana. Other choices also reflect the current devastation in Texas following Hurricane Harvey, including the Houston Humane Society and hurricane relief efforts for The American Red Cross. The brand attributed its choice to stage a charitable portrait series in lieu of a runway show as a reaction to current events.

“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. 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,” Marcus Wainwright, CEO and Creative Director of Rag & Bone, said in a statement.
 
Rag & Bone has shared the dozens of self-portraits on its Instagram page. Each model is styled by Melanie Ward in pieces from the Spring 2018 collection