Rubin Singer Channels Deep Space for His Spring 2017 Collection

Rubin Singer held his Spring 2017 collection preview in the intimate spaces at Highline Stages. He presented 32 looks, ranging from cocktail-chic to red carpet glam. His collection is titled “Into the Deep,” which centers around the concept of deep space exploration. “I went with this concept because my work is always reflective upon what’s going on at the time. I really wanted to focus into my strengths, and really go deep into them. Conceptually going into outer space felt right,” Singer further explained.

In the past, the designer has done collections based on quantum physics, abstract algebraic functions, and grammar. “I have very cerebral concepts a lot of the time. This one in particular felt that it could go wrong very quickly, you could start going into Barbarella or The Jetsons; but luckily after two weeks of working it out, I feel like I landed in a good spot.”

The ready-to-wear collection took about six months to develop, and then a month to make. Singer develops all of his fabrics and techniques. Everything is custom-made and made in New York.  “The paillettes were custom-printed iridescent foiled plastic. I found several meteor-like rocks that I had found in different places and had them drilled and presented in a way that we could actually embroider them into the fabric. The supernova prints are all about lightspeed and time travel. All the different things came together in different ways, but all referencing outer space,” the designer said.

When asked why he had more of an intimate presentation, rather than a runway show, Rubin replied, “I wanted the presentation in this format because it’s about the clothes. I didn’t want to distract away from it, whether it be the make-up,hair, or shoes. The clothes are already so intricate, I didn’t want to get anything else involved.”