Paving the way with Ruby Pedder

Pedder makes everything by hand. Everything she learned at the feet of her grandmother, who was a talented seamstress, is the foundation of her own craftsmanship. She sews by herself, with no assistants, and if on deadline, she’ll enlist a good friend to chip away at the construction, but otherwise, she works as a singular entity. “I like getting to work by myself and choose the jobs that I actually enjoy,” the designer laughs. “That’s why I opt for working alone, though if my nan didn’t live in Tasmania, I’d be getting her to help.”

Previously, the designer worked at the label Vacquera in New York City, a limited-release label that is stocked on SSENSE.com and Selfridges. Inside the machine, she witnessed firsthand how one could design with scale—the entire team, from operations, to social media marketing to design consisted of three people. The infrastructure and cultural integrity also inspired her from the jump: “Despite being commercially successful, they never relinquished their ways of being or their values,” she adds.

Another inspiring peer for the designer is none other than one Michaela Stark. The body-morphing couturier, also from Australia, now calls London her home and the base for her operations, something that Pedder is also angling for in the near future. A bit further down the establishment line, she also cites Martine Rose (“Very independent label with uniquely shaped creative ecosystems!”) and Turkish designer Dilara Findokglu (“Everyone wears Dilara for a reason.”) as aspirational, fully fleshed fashion houses who did not bend to the rigidity of the industry. It’s not difficult to piece together Pedder’s role in this tapestry in a couple of years, though the designer never really saw the brand growing into a commercial vein.

“If you told my 20 year old self we would be designing with a bank, I would be shocked,” says Pedder. “But anticipating the way commercial entities interact with my work through a marketing lens has been fascinating, especially in the art world.” Last month, the Rube Pedder label released an intimate collaboration with Mecca, featuring the designer and her sister in the namesake designs. For Pedder, it’s the artistic approach she’s forged when presenting her work that has settled her initial reluctance to be grouped into commercial work. Of this niche, she says, “It’s entered this space between fashion and art, and operates as both at the same time.” And, as time went on, it also helped with easing into the brand itself. Rube Pedder wasn’t a singular fashion label. It is the culmination of her personhood, and her craftsmanship as an artist who produces fashion. As a naturally reserved person, Pedder had to grow into being the brand as its only and truest ambassador.

As for what’s around the corner, Pedder knows that the whirlwind of fashion is not bound to slow anytime soon. She’s meditating on how to position and enter into that very market, especially when, in her words, “there are huge financial decisions to make.” A collection, a move, or more high-octane collaborations might be coming her way, but how and when it will happen is an entirely different ballgame. Pedder isn’t afraid to wait. Whether that’s now or in five years, it’s the craft—and all of its hardships and returns—that’s burning and stoking her soul.