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When Rhuigi Villaseñor debuted Rhude in 2012, it was merely a product and not a brand. His first item was his infamous paisley bandana shirt, worn by Kendrick Lamar at the BET Awards. That night catapulted Rhude into becoming one of the hottest LA-based and high-end streetwear brands today. With celebrities like Jay-Z, Lebron James, Justin Bieber, Kevin Durant, and other very high-profile names sporting the brand and runway shows in Paris, it’s easy to forget Rhuigi’s path to success. His hard knock life molded his success - using it as inspiration throughout all his seasons.
He was born in Manilla and lived there up until 11 years old. The recurring cigarette references that gave the brand that edgy feel stemmed from Rhuigi seeing kids his age selling cigarettes to feed their family. He wanted to put that ideology and hustle into his clothing - using the Marlboro logo, all-over print cigarette shirts, cross bags, and even his own cigarettes at the Union LA pop-up. Crediting his mom for his inspiration in making clothes, Rhuigi turned his parent’s living room
Rhuigi stayed consistent with his clothing, using his inspirations to give the vintage air to his brand. I started following the brand more thoroughly when he released his first complete line “Rhadicals” which included a short film featuring the city of Sugarland, TX as the inspiration for the collection. The film follows a young man who tries to escape Sugarland so he decides to enroll in the Army. He develops bad PTSD and decides to go back home where he indulges in drugs and cigarettes. The whole film is a metaphor for anarchy and an anti-establishment ideal- a little cheesy but it was cool five years ago. This archaic yet youthful theme is clearly shown within the clothing. The classic Sugarland logo shirt has the vintage look, with slight holes throughout it and a font that ages the shirt. With the logoed shirts, Rhude released a military shirt that embodied the Sugarland story. At a $165 price point, Rhuigi ensures that his t-shirts incorporate the vintage look by sun-drying each and every shirt in California. However, they were lackluster, often time just slapping a reference on the chest. Although the shirts weren’t his most outstanding items, he made it up with some nicer outerwear and jeans. The denim jackets were cropped and had writing on the collars (a little corny but were giving him a pass) and a nude-colored Cabaero coach jacket. He played with darker and punk-y colors, using dark purple on a mohair zip-up and knit sweater. One article that stayed consistent was the jeans. He released your traditional jeans, skinny black jeans, distressed jeans (with a yellow-ish rip), and a personal favorite, the heavy raw denim with the painted line.
After a successful first collection, he came out with his Fall/Winter collection “Motorpsycho” and debuted the Traxedo pants, a piece that was going to overshadow his paisley tee and be a staple in Rhude for the oncoming collections. In his early 20s and with only one collection under his belt, he was able to connect his lines together- showing growth in the brand. The collection wanted to emphasize youth, elegance, and minimalism through sherpa truckers and silk varsity jackets.
Rhuigi did not have a problem scaling, with stores like Webster, SSENSE, Patron of The New, and Maxfield all picking up his brand and selling out. So far, it felt as though Rhuigi was using his surroundings as inspiration for his clothing and did not look at his own style icons that morphed his way of dressing. His next few seasons, arguably his most successful ones, were more mature, accommodating cool dads from Greenwich and NBA rookies.
His debut at Paris Fashion Week, "Seven Falls", was a stepping stone for the brand and how it was perceived amongst fashion heads. Rhude’s street-leaning inclination has matured since. The combination of the Italian craftsmanship gave the brand a more progressive contemporary menswear look. The Paul Newman/Gianni Agnelli influence is present within the clothes - Western shirts, luxurious track pants, and buttery leather. His Thierry Lasry eyewear collaboration also made a debut, solidifying his status as a menswear brand and stirring away from the streetwear label.
I enjoyed watching Rhuigi grow his brand. I bought my first Rhude piece through his DM on Instagram when he was hosting a sample archive sale. For a brand that had just started out, I was pleased with the quality and the way it fits. The jeans I bought, as well as all the other items in his store, seemed to have taken the inspiration of Hedi Slimane and his time at Dior. In an interview with Forbes after winning a spot on the 30 Under 30, he listed the French designer as one of his inspirations. Although it isn’t as obvious in his later collections, the grungy and punk aesthetic, matched with the leather combat boots and skin-tight jeans, you didn’t need Diet Prada to spell it out for you. His Sugarland theme of anarchy and anti-establishment can be met with the same critique that his earlier collection got. During that time period, a lot of brands took inspiration from Raf Simons’ S/S 02 collection “Woe Onto Those Who Spit on the Fear Generation the Wind Will Blow it Back” and its rioting message. Rhuigi broke apart that idea and instead focused on the individual and the breaking one’s self - understanding who you are.
My fear for Rhude was for it to go down the same path as Amiri, copying every Hedi Slimane season and putting a corny twist to it. But, as the brand matured, so did the clothing. In that same Forbes interview, when speaking on the success of the brand, he doesn’t put emphasis on the profit margins as much as the audience he can reach: “I define success as how many people you can reach; how many people you can relate to. I think a good product is something that a 16-year-old kid, or a grown man, can wear.”
The future is looking bright for Rhuigi and his brand, collaborating with his childhood’s sports team LA Lakers, and other big names that he previews on his IG story.
The American Dream is alive and Rhuigi surpassed it.
Photo 1: Complex Magazine
Photo 2: Menswear Bible
Photo 3: Rhude archive website
Photo 4: TodaysHype
Photo 5: Hypebeast
Photo 6: Hypebeast
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