A Fashion Designer & His Muse: Couturier Ralph Rucci & Tatiana Sorokko

Spotlight on the Remarkable Tatiana Sorokko

This post originally began as a look-back on my feature article about couture designer Ralph Rucci & his design label, Chado Ralph Rucci. As I worked on the introduction, I found myself taking an unexpected left-turn when I recalled speaking with his friend & muse, Tatiana Sorokko, to get some quotes for the profile piece.

I had met with the former model ten years earlier. We had chatted for a while at my desk at the Michael Kors office while she waited for a go-see for the upcoming fashion show. She wasn’t a wet-behind the ears girl- at all. Tatiana was one of the group of polished supers who was very well spoken & who dressed for a go-see, complete with an Hermès bag.

Our next conversation was over the phone in 2005, to help piece together the feature article I was writing on her close friend, Ralph Rucci. The two had been fast friends since she modeled for him in the nineties. The relationship evolved, & Tatiana became a client & muse. She neatly transitioned her career as a supermodel, to writing about the world she had experienced for Harper’s Bazaar & Vanity Fair as well as organizing photo shoots for the two magazines. Along the way, she became an avid vintage couture collector & was named to both Vogue & Harper’s Bazaar’s…