Isabel and Ruben Toledo on Dressing Michelle Obama and Doing Another Mass Market Collaboration
If you don’t already believe in soulmates, listening to Isabel and Ruben Toledo speak should convince you.
Tuesday March 19th, 2013
Wednesday March 7th, 2012
Isabel and Ruben Toledo on Fashion As Art, Skipping Fashion Week and Dressing Michelle Obama
Isabel and Ruben Toledo are stalwarts of art and fashion (and perhaps, as a couple, perfectly embody the collision of those two worlds), but what they’ve come to represent goes beyond that.
As immigrants from Cuba, they are the “American Dream” and have withstood immense changes within their fields over the past few decades, all while living together in New York City. Their longevity–both in their careers and their relationship–is inspiring to say the least. So, it was a pleasure to hear them talk about it all last night at Parsons (where Isabel was once a student), in a discussion with Simon Collins, Dean of the School of Fashion. The discussion was also timed to coincide with the launch of Isabel’s book (for which Ruben did beautiful illustrations). Here are the most interesting bits we gleaned from the convo:
Friday April 15th, 2011
Five Questions for Isabel Toledo
The Artist’s Toolbox, a PBS show where John Jacobsen interviews “America’s best artists,” features Isabel and Ruben Toledo this weekend. The episode offers a revealing look at the couple and how they encourage each other’s art. So set your DVRs–the show airs Sunday on New York’s local PBS affiliate WNET channel 13 at 3 p.m. In advance of the show, we asked the designer about her creative process, designer collaborations, and how she and Ruben maintain such a strong relationship–in love and work.
What do hope that viewers will learn about you and how you work by watching this show?
Creativity is a mysterious thing and as individual as each creator, but I hope the viewer can get a sense of the free form-border jumping terrain that is fashion combined with the high degree of craft involved to achieve the final vision.
At one point in the show you say you don’t really consider yourself an artist and that you’ve never had a job–how do you explain these statements?
