I would go out tonight… TEXT ANDERS CHRISTIAN MADSEN PHOTOGRAPHY PARI DUKOVIC For ten years, RAG & BONE have been flying the flag of British fashion in New York. But for expats David Neville and Marcus Wainwright, England is still a part of the American Dream. When David Neville and Marcus Wainwright decided to ask Craig McDean to shoot Kate Moss for rag & bone’s first-ever campaign last season, it marked a decidedly British year for the two expats, who founded the label in New York in 2002. “We were inspired by the pictures of Kate Moss in the military jacket Craig shot for i-D,” David
its modest ten-year existence. Counting Anna Wintour amongst their biggest
says, referring to McDean’s cover story for i-D’s The
fans (“she’s been our fairy godmother,” David says), Neville and Wainwright
Streaker Issue in June 2002. “We wanted to start with a
show both their men’s and women’s collections at New York Fashion Week and
bang, and Kate’s somebody that embodies how our girl
are currently expanding their accessories collection, the pièce de résistance of
dresses. If someone said to us ten years ago that we’d
which is the much-coveted Pilot Bag. There’s an American Dream cliché just
have Kate Moss in our campaign, I would have bit my arm
dying to get mentioned, but on the road to the duo’s success was always a
off,” he laughs.
loyalty to their roots. The heart of rag & bone, like Marcus says, “is a balance
Nestled in a sofa on the lower ground floor of the store
between the fact that we’re English and it’s based in New York.”
they opened on Sloane Square last summer - just before
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they showed at London Fashion Week for the first time - Neville and Wainwright are on a brief stopover in the country they left to set up shop in New York. Both sons of traditional British families, the England that Neville and Wainwright brought to America was one of heritage, custom, and refinement. While Neville attributes his interest in fashion to his mother taking him shopping as a child - “she used to always wear menswear suits, like trouser suits, and I used to go and help her choose them” - Wainwright cites his father as a key inspiration. “My parents have both been highly influential on my design and general outlook on life. My old man was in the army and he’s a super traditional English guy, as was his father,
“My old man was in the army, he’s a super traditional English guy, as was his father. So a lot of the tailoring in rag & bone and the British military influence come from my dad.” Marcus Wainwright
so a lot of the tailoring influence and the British military influence come from my dad,” he says. With its raw, denim-based aesthetic, which plays on urban, utilitarian notes and hints at British Old World charm and American Western culture, rag & bone has become a seemingly unstoppable fashion force during 64 i-D THE TIME IS NOW ISSUE
i-D THE TIME IS NOW ISSUE 65