Less than 10 years after its launch, Rhuigi Villaseñor has managed to bring Rhude to the Olympus of luxury streetwear. A brand that has gone beyond the simple concept of a brand, remaining authentic and faithful to its roots but at the same time becoming almost a status symbol for internationally renowned artists and musicians. From Justin Bieber to Kendrick Lamar, up to Jay-Z and LeBron James: no one has remained immune to his charm. Also in Italy. But what is behind its sudden success?
To find out, let’s go back 8 years. It was 2015 when Rhuigi Villaseñor’s vision came to life in Los Angeles, bringing to light a new streetwear brand: Rhude. On the other hand, “The City of Angels” has always been a true creative hotbed for everything related to street culture, and the fashion segment is certainly no exception. Emerging in an already so fragmented and competitive universe was by no means a simple undertaking. Not to mention the cumbersome presence of true streetwear sacred monsters such as Stüssy, Supreme and the newborn Off-White (launched three years earlier, in 2012) which dominated the scene.
But even without having had any specific training in fashion design (what he knew about fashion only came from growing up with a seamstress mother), Villasenõr was convinced of the strength of his ideas. So much so that the real turning point in this story comes even before the official launch of the brand, and for this we have Kendrick Lamar to thank. The American rapper was in fact the first to discover Rhude’s stylistic potential.
During the 2012 Bet Hip-Hop Awards ceremony the singer went on stage to accept the awards first wearing a white and red Rhude t-shirt bandana not yet in production. He later performed in a similar t-shirt, this time black and white. Legend has it that after the performance Snoop Dogg himself called him because of those t-shirts. The success of the brand seemed to have already been written even before the official debut.
Design-wise, the Rhude collections expertly balance luxury techniques with streetwear elements. But the brand thinks beyond aesthetics and also approaches its collections from a narrative point of view. This is its true strength. Rhude is the American Dream come true. A story of redemption deeply linked to the very personal one of Villaseñor, who moved to Los Angeles from the Philippines when he was only 11 years old. His past is the common thread of all the brand’s creations. A past to be proud of and not to forget, which led him to show at fashion week in Paris and to be proud among the leaders of the street scene.