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British couturiers Ralph & Russo were the subject of the V&A’s Autumn 2014 Fashion in Motion. Comprising creative director Tamara Ralph and CEO Michael Russo, Ralph & Russo are known for creating opulent handcrafted garments. In 2013 the brand received a rare invitation from France’s Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, and are now the only British label to show on the official Paris Haute Couture Week schedule. Transcript of interview: Oriole Cullen: We are here with Tamara Ralph, Creative Director, and Michael Russo, CEO of Ralph & Russo. Congratulations on a beautiful show. Can you tell us a bit about how you made your selection for the V&A event? Tamara Russo: Well we wanted to put a mixture of some of our favourite pieces from the Spring/Summer show as well as the Autumn/Winter show, and we wanted to have some of the iconic pieces that have been quite famous in the press from the red carpet and things like that. And we thought it was beautiful, beautiful flow, so…. It was a hard choice. OC: I can imagine. It’s very interesting, because you’re showing now on the official schedule on the Paris couture season and you’re a British-based brand. Can you tell us a bit about why you’re based in London? Michael Ralph: Well London is really such an epicentre for such a huge mix of international clientele. It’s so central to the rest of Europe, and I think what we’ve found out after the last few years is these couture clientele are spending more and more time in London. And it’s really got such a diverse cultural mix and we really enjoy having our base here. TR: And plus we love London. OC: But working with couture, I mean it’s a very intensive and dedicated approach to design. Was that something that you… was that a choice you made that you always knew that you wanted to specialise in it? TR: It was something that we very much knew we wanted to specialise in. It was something that I had been trained in from a very young age. I started when I was about ten years old, and likewise, four generations in my family with haute couture. So it was very much in our hearts and something that we knew exactly what we wanted to do. OC: Well, speaking of that, the last dress in the show here, the V&A are showing their Wedding Dresses show here at the moment, and this spectacular wedding dress is amazing. Can you tell us a bit about the design and construction? TR: We wanted something that was quite mystical, but really romantic and quite grand and dramatic and regal at the same time. So we worked on an embroidery and quite a few embroidery designs and sketches and shapes. The design process for just that part took a couple of months to perfect and get it right. We wanted to have something that was soft but, you know, structured at the same time so there’s about 600 metres of silk tulle in the particular gown and about 3900 hours of hand embroidery. So it’s quite a piece, but we love it and it was a beautiful finale choice. OC: Well thank you so much, Tamara and Michael. Thank you.