Sitting out the Paris runway but riding high on the announcement of his new role as Bally creative director, designer Rhuigi Villaseñor debuted his Rhude men’s collection digitally on Wednesday.
Calling it “Bull Market,” Villaseñor was inspired by a meme depicting the Gordon Gecko millionaire of 2022 as a kid on his laptop in his bedroom, trading crypto futures, perhaps.
His imagined uniform for today’s greed-is-good set was a luxe-lounge mix. “The new power suit is the pajama,” he laughed during a Zoom call from his Los Angeles studio.
The designer is also coming off the star-studded spring 2022 Rhude runway show he held in Beverly Hills last June, which was a watershed moment for the brand and what it could be, showing his fullest range of offerings to date, with both men’s and women’s wear.
“I saw an uptick in searches for eyewear, outerwear and accessories, which had only been 20 percent of the business,” he said of the effect of the show, which was attended by Lena Waithe, Cynthia Erivo, Saweetie, Chris Brown and more. “For 2022, we were expecting a 100 percent increase, but with the traction we have now, it might be a 200 percent increase,” he said of sales projections following the Bally announcement.
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Villaseñor is a very commercial designer, and his fall collection offered a little bit of everything — puffers and great looking pinstripe pjs, classic tailoring and tonal cashmere sweats, peacockish faux fur coats and track suits with what New York City mayor Eric Adams would call swagger.
For those wondering what the designer has planned for his debut later this year at Swiss luxury goods brand Bally, the glossy black coat with red faux fur collar and matching black leather pants offered a clue — and highlighted the designer’s bold color sense.
And for his Rhude Boy fan base, he incorporated preppy Fair Isles, tweeds and denim, and made a compelling case for the white Wallabee as the new loafer.
Several pieces, including football team style scarves, had “Rhude” spelled out on them, signaling how Villaseñor has been able to cultivate a community that should carry over to Lugano.