Ruben Toledo on Fashion, Art and Staying Inspired

Ruben Toledo, fashion illustrator extraordinaire, took to the stage at FIT’s amphitheatre Thursday night for a wide-ranging discussion that touched on his editorial and commercial work, his ongoing – and constant - collaboration with his wife, Isabel, and the series of book covers he just illustrated for Penguin Couture Classics.

Said covers – for reissued versions of Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and The Scarlet Letter – were the jumping off point for the hour-long conversation organized by the Museum at FIT and moderated by Penguin Classics editorial director, Elda Rotor, which ended with a spirited Q&A and book signing, with both Ruben and Isabel chatting at length with students, fashion world colleagues and fans (including The Fashion Informer’s resident illustrator, Lana Frankel).

Calling himself a “really, really bad student” who nonetheless loved to spend time “hiding out” in the library of his New Jersey high school, Ruben said he’d always loved reading and that the same narrative that drew him to books informs the way he approaches his art: “It’s all about storytelling.”

Getting the chance to illustrate the Penguin Classics covers was, for him, “the perfect marriage of literature, art and fashion” and, indeed, the covers display both modern and period-specific styles, along with hand-drawn fonts, which Ruben rendered while Isabel read aloud to him from each of the three books – none of which he had read before.

Noting that the heroine of The Scarlet Letter is a seamstress – “I loved that!” – Ruben said he had originally wanted to do an A to Z of sins on the cover, “but there wasn’t enough room.”  He also gleefully confided that Wuthering Heights was his favorite of the three books because “it’s the most twisted and perverse story.” (But then what would you expect from a guy who grew up loving monsters, horror movies and anything “dark and spooky.”)

After recounting how he and Isabel met as Cuban immigrants in their New Jersey high school and the early days of their respective careers (which are so intertwined that there is no way to tell the story of one without mentioning the other, and which you can read more about here, here and here), Ruben scrolled through a slide show of his now-iconic work, which encompasses ads, catalogs and window installations for Nordstrom, Barneys and Target; illustrations for Chanel, Missoni, Fendi and Louis Vuitton; exhibits at the Museum at FIT and London’s V&A; mannequin design; postage stamps; posters and countless magazine editorials for Details, Paper, Visionaire, The New Yorker, Interview and many international editions of Vogue (but not, alas, American Vogue, as “they’re a bit too safe”).

The gregarious painter explained that he enjoyed doing things like window displays and magazine ads because “fashion illustration is democratic and I like that.  A lot of people don’t go to museums to see art, but everyone has an opinion about fashion,” and added that when he first began illustrating the work of designers in the ‘80s, he was told that what he was doing was not, in fact, fashion illustration but art – an idea he summarily rejects. 

He and Isabel spoke of the need to maintain the purity of one’s voice and vision in the face of passing trends and commercial concerns, with Ruben advising the students, in particular, to “stay in your own little bubble and your own little world.”

“It’s ok to not know about everything in the world and to be ignorant about some things if you’re nurturing the world inside,” he said, stressing that it’s this interior, intensely personal world that fuels one’s imagination and allows for a unique point of view that ultimately becomes the artist’s (or designer/writer/musician’s) inimitable creative signature.

He discussed his many inspirations, from his friends to the streets of New York to different types of music (admitting he becomes fixated on a particular song or genre – from classical to Afro-Cuban – and listens to the same thing, ad nauseum, until the illustration it inspired is finished). “It drives me crazy,” said Isabel with a laugh.

Ruben revealed that his long-delayed book, Fashionation, will finally be published by Karl Lagerfeld’s 7L imprint next year (there’s also an accompanying Toledo-directed film of the same name, but no word on when that will be released), and the audience learned that he is also on board to illustrate covers of Penguin Couture Classics 2010 reissues of Jane Eyre, Dracula and The Picture of Dorian Gray.  He also mentioned that he recently designed textiles for Vanity Fair lingerie, but that the finished collection will only be sold in Spain and Italy (not fair!).

But the most exciting news of the evening (for this audience member, at least) was the revelation that Isabel – who once worked for Diana Vreeland at the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute - has archived all of her designs and her husband’s illustrations from the beginning of their careers to the present.  “She won’t let me throw anything out!” cried Ruben in mock dismay.

We’re already imagining the crazy-inventive Isabel and Ruben Toledo Museum that could be borne of such a treasure trove of unbridled creativity (think of the immersive experience that is the Dali Museum in Paris as filtered through the prism of this insanely prolific couple, with his whimsically fanciful illustrations, installations, mosaics and mannequins surrounding her intellectually rigorous yet always wearable designs).  The mind boggles.

Photos © The Fashion Informer/Lauren David Peden

Comments

[laura rosenbaum]

this is great. I was at the lecture too, and wanted to get these pictures but forgot my camera!

[Yaya]

great post! can't believe i missed this!

[Dashing]

Outstanding Post