If you could snoop inside the home of one of the tarts from Gossip Girl, what would you find? From May 27 through June 2, Ruffian designers Brian Wolk and Claude Morais let shoppers see one possibility when they set up camp in Washington Street’s Earnest Sewn flagship. The pop-up partnership created the bedroom of the ideal Ruffian customer, a boarding-school girl with an edge. Set designer Anne Koch signed on to design a space that balanced the line between sweet and sour.
“Bedrooms define teenage girls,” Koch says. “If anyone penetrates that, it’s absolute chaos, so I wanted everyone who went to think this girl just stepped out for a second.” To create the room, Koch set out on a scavenger hunt to find pieces that would define the imaginary heroine. Most of the items in the room came from vintage stores around Manhattan and Brooklyn, but some of the bigger pieces were rented. “I wanted a matching white wicker furniture, and you can’t just go out and find that at a thrift shop.”Details extended far beyond the piles of laundry, the recording of Ruffian’s fall/winter 2008 runway show on the small TV, and magazine clippings of the Jonas Brothers taped to the wall. Because she’s as straitlaced as the line itself, the Ruffian girl kept stashes of empty beer bottles, condom wrappers, and fake cocaine hidden throughout the room. “My favorite aspect is the way the people could interact with the space,” Koch said. “Look under the bed and behind the paintings. You have to scratch the surface.”
And people did more than scratch. At the May 27 party to kick off the installation, guests fully embraced the theme of the room. Partygoers drank cocktails on the twin bed, gave each other manicures, and channeled spirits with the Ouija board.
Earnest Sewn shoppers, however, were a bit more skeptical during store hours. Possibly assuming the art was not part of the store, Koch said, the patrons were reluctant to rifle through the Ruffian girl’s armoire. “The idea was that Ruffian was going to sell their clothing from her wardrobe,” said Koch. “I think the people didn’t quite get that.”
Ruffian is not the first designer welcomed by Earnest Sewn's 400-square-foot back room. The denim clothier's hosts different labels on an almost monthly basis, with recent pop-ups including Trovata, Moscot, and a 90-day installation by French footwear line Repetto.
“Bedrooms define teenage girls,” Koch says. “If anyone penetrates that, it’s absolute chaos, so I wanted everyone who went to think this girl just stepped out for a second.” To create the room, Koch set out on a scavenger hunt to find pieces that would define the imaginary heroine. Most of the items in the room came from vintage stores around Manhattan and Brooklyn, but some of the bigger pieces were rented. “I wanted a matching white wicker furniture, and you can’t just go out and find that at a thrift shop.”Details extended far beyond the piles of laundry, the recording of Ruffian’s fall/winter 2008 runway show on the small TV, and magazine clippings of the Jonas Brothers taped to the wall. Because she’s as straitlaced as the line itself, the Ruffian girl kept stashes of empty beer bottles, condom wrappers, and fake cocaine hidden throughout the room. “My favorite aspect is the way the people could interact with the space,” Koch said. “Look under the bed and behind the paintings. You have to scratch the surface.”
And people did more than scratch. At the May 27 party to kick off the installation, guests fully embraced the theme of the room. Partygoers drank cocktails on the twin bed, gave each other manicures, and channeled spirits with the Ouija board.
Earnest Sewn shoppers, however, were a bit more skeptical during store hours. Possibly assuming the art was not part of the store, Koch said, the patrons were reluctant to rifle through the Ruffian girl’s armoire. “The idea was that Ruffian was going to sell their clothing from her wardrobe,” said Koch. “I think the people didn’t quite get that.”
Ruffian is not the first designer welcomed by Earnest Sewn's 400-square-foot back room. The denim clothier's hosts different labels on an almost monthly basis, with recent pop-ups including Trovata, Moscot, and a 90-day installation by French footwear line Repetto.
The back room at Earnest Sewn last week
Photo: Melissa Hom
Shoppers bold enough to peek behind the curtain in the back of Earnest Sewn found a teen girl's sanctuary.
Photo: Melissa Hom
Ruffian's collection was up for sale in the girl's wardrobe and throughout the room; a jacket cost $1,250.
Photo: Melissa Hom
Designer Anne Koch wanted the white and pink space to serve as a polar opposite to Earnest Sewn's masculine and rustic decor.
Photo: Melissa Hom
Guests who peeled back the cutouts and posters on the wall found secrets and messages scrawled by the room's owner.
Photo: Melissa Hom
Koch mapped out where to place the installation's bigger pieces in a preliminary sketch of the room.
Sketch: Anne Koch
