Tamara Ralph’s Couture Comeback

LONDON — Tamara Ralph is back with a new namesake couture label.

Already, A-listers like Lily James, Penelope Cruz, Halle Berry and Kate Hudson have worn the label to this year’s Oscars, Met Gala and Cannes Film Festival. Now the brand is set to make its official debut on Monday, the opening day of Paris Couture Week.

For years, Ralph regularly staged Paris shows for Ralph & Russo, the label she co-founded in 2006 with former partner Michael Russo. The London-based brand was a go-to for celebrities, royals and other high-net-worth clients and, in 2014, became the first British label to join the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.

But Ralph & Russo struggled to turn a profit. After a boost in 2017, when Meghan Markle wore of the label’s £56,000 couture gowns for her official portraits marking her engagement to Prince Harry, sales accelerated, but losses also widened.

The label finally succumbed to Covid-19 and filed for administration in March 2021. Soon after, Ralph was hit with a lawsuit alleging she and Russo misappropriated company funds and exited the label. (Ralph responded with a counterclaim, refuting the allegations).

“The brand was everything I’d spent my whole life building,” said Ralph. “So that was incredibly painful. It took a long time to heal from that and move on from that.”

Now the designer is mounting a comeback. “I always planned to relaunch after everything that happened,” she said. “I just wanted to take my time to regroup and think about how to do things differently, what lessons I had learned.”

After a brief haitus, the designer got to work building out a team, reconnecting with former suppliers and getting back in touch with old clients. The label soft-launched in January with a 10-piece collection presented to 40 clients in Paris.

The collection Ralph is set to show on Monday is full of hand-crafted metal work, with dresses embellished with cage-like structures and metal carved rosettes, all made at her atelier in London.

“Going through the experience that I went through grew me as a person on many different levels, not only from a business perspective, but also as a designer,” she said. “My designs have always been very feminine, but I think now they’re a bit bolder, a bit stronger.”

The road ahead is sure to pose challenges. Couture is a tough market.

“We are seeing more and more a divide between the winners and the losers, and the winners are typically the big luxury brands,” said luxury advisor Mario Ortelli. “There are some successful niche brands — their success is usually driven the most by their portfolio of loyal clients of haute couture that every season buy from their atelier.”

Careful cost management is also key. Ralph has worked to keep her cost base down by outsourcing functions from graphic design to accounting. She is also bolstering the business with two long-term product partnerships.

“They’re with great luxury brands and have provided a stable financial base outside of couture revenues,” she said.

For now, the venture is self-funded and Ralph is acting as chief executive officer as well as creative director.

“What’s motivating right now for me is really creating again,” she said. “I’m taking it one step at a time.”