Fashion designer Rhuigi Villaseñor reunites with fashion brand ZARA for RHU (Redesigning Human Uniform) to present a newly evolved and expanded edition of RHU’s contemporary “uniform”. The collection is introduced with a campaign starring actor and model Aron Piper, captured by fashion photographer Willy Vanderperre and styled by Rúben De Melo Moreira. By combining Villaseñor’s aesthetic with Zara’s global network and, their shared intention was to create a wardrobe infused with the qualities and codes of modern progressive luxury at a scale and price point that made it accessible to all. The collection spans over 20 RHU ready to wear pieces, five RHU shoe styles, and six RHU bags: an open-source toolkit for modern eclectic dressing. This season also sees the introduction of a new fragrance RHU body spray.
The premise and the goal of this project remains the same: to enable young people with a real-world budget to access my aesthetic codes and design. RHU is an exercise in fashion democracy in which every piece is conceived, prototyped and produced with the values of dignity and accessibility front and center. – Rhuigi Villaseñor
This second RHU edition is informally entitled Cross Country – a script also emblazoned on one of its Villaseñor-signature varsity jackets – to reflect the all-terrain philosophy that is specific to this project. That is, as last season, to be unbound by traditional codes in contemporary clothing in order to enable total freedom of expression through style. This bold creative endeavour also empowers the wearer to transcend conventional notions of ‘sportswear’, ‘luxury’ and ‘streetwear’.
Plus, with Zara as my partner, I want to go across the world with this. What I see is that kids today don’t want to conform or be defined by the codes and boundaries that apply to their parents’ thinking. That philosophy is reflected in the way they wish to appear. Bagginess is comfortable and freeing, but they move between oversized and cropped or maybe tighter on the body to play with mixed proportions. And we keep looking to the future with the mix of prints and play of color. My only regret about this collection is that it was not available for me back when I was shaping my own identity and style through clothing. – Rhuigi Villaseñor
