Hailee Steinfeld looked like a dreamy cream cake in her couture gown of hand-painted pearl grey organza with 3D flower appliqués and crystal embellishments.
It was the work of the London-based couture house Ralph & Russo, which was founded less than a decade ago by a young woman from Sydney’s Cronulla and the Brisbane-born boy she ran into in a London street just a few hours after arriving in the country.
Today Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo (both still in their thirties, now an item) are new generation couturiers as likely to gain an orders from social media as from the traditional atelier appointments.
“Often we get orders via What’s App before models have even left the catwalk,” Ralph told the New York Times earlier this year.
They can expect more to flood in after the Oscars, for which they also dressed Indian actor Priyanka Chopra, who wore geometric strapless AND backless Ralph and Russo that stood up of its own accord.
A Ralph and Russo gown can take thousands of hours to embellish and construct. If you need to ask the price, you can’t afford it.
Their first super-star client was Beyonce – she wore their bodysuit on her Mrs. Carter tour. Angelina Jolie soon joined their client list – she chose a Ralph & Russo couture suit to accept her honorary damehood from The Queen in 2014. Remember Gwyneth Paltrow’s 2015 ice pink Oscars column dress? The one with the dramatic flower-detail? Yep, Ralph and Russo.
