It scarcely seems possible, but it’s true.
The minute the show ends, gossip starts about a rare new sensibility, someone with incredible maturity.
Buyers crowd in, crying words likesophisticatedandbeautiful.
Photographed by Ulrike Schamoni
So when people said it looks very much grown-up, it was good."
One minute later, shazam!
I want to make you the new designer at Ruffo Research!"
Or words to that effect.
“When I walked into his showroom, I was immediately captivated,” Yaffe says.
“Even though Haider had done only one collection, I had a feeling of confidence in him.
He’s in sync with what today’s woman wantssomething timeless, simple but sophisticated.”
Being selected for Ruffo Research is like an indie band’s getting a two-album deal from a major label.
Over the past five years a succession of about-to-make-it talent has trooped through Ruffo Research’s Tuscan studios.
Antonio Berardi, Veronique Branquinho, Raf Simons, A.F.
Vandevorst, Sophia Kokosalaki, and Alexandre Matthieu have all been there.
So who is Haider Ackermann?
“My father is from Alsace, which is why my name sounds German,” he explains.
“He works for Amnesty International, so we traveled around when I was a child.
I did my baccalaureate in the Netherlands and then decided I wanted to study fashion.”
“I left the academy after the third year for financial reasons.
I took on three freelance design jobs and worked behind bars, in clubs.
I was always thinking of doing it, but I doubted myself.”
“Raf was like, ‘You have to do it!'”
“The same day, he called his press agent and his fabric manufacturerand then everything went very fast.
It was a big risk.”
I don’t like it when you put something on a woman and it looks like decoration.
I don’t think that’s respectful.
And for Ruffo Research’s luxe leather, the sky’s the limit.
“Like all the others, he’s getting carte blanche,” she says.
