Ruby Redstone
Introducing Ruby Redstone! A fashion historian, writer, and longtime style enthusiast, Ruby shares her journey through personal style, fashion influences, and enduring wardrobe pieces. Reflecting on a childhood spent in kilts and sailor tops, Ruby talks to us about her evolving relationship with style, highlighting how age and confidence have shifted her focus from outward impressions to a truer sense of self-expression.
Explore her Hai Society and you'll find yourself scrolling through her uniquely whimsical outfits - just as we have!
Have you always been interested in clothes?
Yes! Almost all of my earliest memories relate to clothing, which is funny in retrospect. Clothes have always been the lens through which I experience much of the world. I started working in fashion when I was thirteen, so I also really came of age in the fashion industry.
When did you feel that you’d found ‘your’ style? Or is this something that you’re still working out?
I hope my style is always a work in progress! There are certain elements I've gravitated toward for as long as I can remember, and I hope they’ll always be hallmarks of my personal style. Still, I think leaving room to surprise yourself is what keeps the act of getting dressed interesting.
Who do you look to in terms of style?
My mom! She has the best style and is my sounding board for everything I want to wear. Marie Antoinette is also an eternal source of inspiration for me, and Miuccia Prada and Manuela Pavesi belong in this pantheon as well. Beyond that, I'm more inspired by the research rabbit holes I find myself falling down and by what I see on the street each day, rather than by any one individual.
How has the way you’ve dressed changed over the past ten years? What pieces have ended up enduring?
In many ways, I've dressed similarly since childhood (kilts, sailor tops, heaps of pattern and color), but ten years ago I was a teenager. I was very concerned with attracting others and appearing cool through how I dressed. Those desires never completely go away, but they've certainly waned dramatically over the past decade - and wow, that feels good! As a result, I think my outfits look much better now. The pieces that have endured are the ones true to my core sense of style. I have a black kilt that I bought at age 19, and I still wear it at least once a week! All my special vintage dresses have also stuck around - they are evergreen
What are you reading, or rereading, currently?
I am reading The Subversive Stitch, re-reading The Age of Innocence, and re-re-re-reading Madeleine every night to my kids. There’s a girl with great style!
Of everything you’ve worked on, what are you proudest of?
I am really proud of everything that I have worked on, but I hope that the best is yet to come!
If you weren’t a fashion historian / writer what would you be?
I would love to be a designer. I think that I am better suited to writing about clothes than making them, but never say never…
Can you work to music? What do you listen to if so?
No! I like complete silence.
Where is your favourite place to go for a three day break? And give us your three best tips?
Paris! What could be better?! I’d stay at Hotel Grand Amour (one of my favourite hotels in the world), have a long lunch at Onii-San Izakaya, and go find inspiration in the splendour of Musée Gustave Moreau.
Where do you feel most at home, and why?
Wherever and whenever my family is together, I am home.
You’re hosting a dinner for your closest friends; what are you cooking and what are you serving to drink?
I am probably cooking Thai food–either larb or a steak with Crying Tiger sauce. I love spice. My husband is making the drinks. He does the best cocktails with vinegars and syrups that he makes out of fruit from the farmer’s market. Oh, and I’m making ice cream for dessert. It’s my favourite hobby, and it works out well for other people too!
Have you always been interested in clothes?
Yes! Almost all of my earliest memories relate to clothing, which is funny in retrospect. Clothes have always been the lens through which I experience much of the world. I started working in fashion when I was thirteen, so I also really came of age in the fashion industry.
When did you feel that you’d found ‘your’ style? Or is this something that you’re still working out?
I hope my style is always a work in progress! There are certain elements I've gravitated toward for as long as I can remember, and I hope they’ll always be hallmarks of my personal style. Still, I think leaving room to surprise yourself is what keeps the act of getting dressed interesting.
Who do you look to in terms of style?
My mom! She has the best style and is my sounding board for everything I want to wear. Marie Antoinette is also an eternal source of inspiration for me, and Miuccia Prada and Manuela Pavesi belong in this pantheon as well. Beyond that, I'm more inspired by the research rabbit holes I find myself falling down and by what I see on the street each day, rather than by any one individual.
How has the way you’ve dressed changed over the past ten years? What pieces have ended up enduring?
In many ways, I've dressed similarly since childhood (kilts, sailor tops, heaps of pattern and color), but ten years ago I was a teenager. I was very concerned with attracting others and appearing cool through how I dressed. Those desires never completely go away, but they've certainly waned dramatically over the past decade - and wow, that feels good! As a result, I think my outfits look much better now. The pieces that have endured are the ones true to my core sense of style. I have a black kilt that I bought at age 19, and I still wear it at least once a week! All my special vintage dresses have also stuck around - they are evergreen
What are you reading, or rereading, currently?
I am reading The Subversive Stitch, re-reading The Age of Innocence, and re-re-re-reading Madeleine every night to my kids. There’s a girl with great style!
Of everything you’ve worked on, what are you proudest of?
I am really proud of everything that I have worked on, but I hope that the best is yet to come!
If you weren’t a fashion historian / writer what would you be?
I would love to be a designer. I think that I am better suited to writing about clothes than making them, but never say never…
Can you work to music? What do you listen to if so?
No! I like complete silence.
Where is your favourite place to go for a three day break? And give us your three best tips?
Paris! What could be better?! I’d stay at Hotel Grand Amour (one of my favourite hotels in the world), have a long lunch at Onii-San Izakaya, and go find inspiration in the splendour of Musée Gustave Moreau.
Where do you feel most at home, and why?
Wherever and whenever my family is together, I am home.
You’re hosting a dinner for your closest friends; what are you cooking and what are you serving to drink?
I am probably cooking Thai food–either larb or a steak with Crying Tiger sauce. I love spice. My husband is making the drinks. He does the best cocktails with vinegars and syrups that he makes out of fruit from the farmer’s market. Oh, and I’m making ice cream for dessert. It’s my favourite hobby, and it works out well for other people too!