Two Names to Know: Rùadh + St. Rose
And an invite to shop them IRL this week.
I am the most jaded shopper in the world. Ok, not quite, but after decades in the business, I have seen it all, and at this point, it takes something special to make me take notice. Enter two new(ish) brands, Rùadh by Jac Cameron and St. Rose by Belinda Smith, in what are honestly two over-saturated areas—denim and scent. Both women are creating something unique enough to stand out and entice me to buy what they have to offer. (They also both grew up on farms, perhaps there is a creative connection there?)
I am also thrilled that this week, the three of us will be having a two-day trunk show so you have an opportunity to see what I am talking about IRL. This is a private event, you must RSVP to attend. I hope to see you there.
In the meantime, I asked Jac and Belinda to answer a few ?s.
Jac Cameron of Rùadh
What was your career path up to launching Ruadh and what compelled you to launch the collection?
I moved from London after graduating from fashion school to NYC to intern for Marc Jacobs in 2004, a daunting yet exciting opportunity.
Having grown up on a farm in Scotland I had always felt the pull to live and work in a big city and experience that pace of life, New York seemed to have so many exciting opportunities.
I worked for brands including Madewell and Calvin Klein and consulted for many brands large and small. Over time I became a specialist in denim, a medium that is exciting because it has all the elements of a canvas, where the artist can blend shape, color, and texture with intentional details that create a particular look. Add that to tailoring that makes each piece feel like it was specially made for the wearer. I’ve found that the flexibility and adaptability of denim has also developed my feel for other fabrics and garments whether worn in conjunction with denim or on their own.
I felt compelled to launch Rùadh as a counter offering to mass fashion, with the intent to build a company with a value system built upon ethically sourced, small batch production with a focus on artisan craft that makes every piece feel like a treasure, and at the same time makes the collection feel like there’s an intention and a flow.
Rùadh launched in 2024 with an eleven-piece capsule of denim crafted in regenerative cotton made in the USA, with hardware made of recycled metals crafted in Italy. Each season we launch a new category, still with the ethos of keeping it tight and focused, sourcing and making with factories and mills that have become like family. We now have t-shirts and hoodies crafted in Portugal at a female-owned factory, knits made in Scotland, and leather from a boutique factory in Los Angeles, with more to come.
I am excited to realize the dream of making sweaters in Scotland where my grandmother used to work for Pringle. This particular factory has supported generations of families in the local community who have been making knits for many French luxury brands. Their expertise and level of craftsmanship is like none other. To me, this is the most important thing when building a brand with heart.
How is Rùadh different from other denim? With Rùadh I hope to redefine traditional ready-to-wear with a hyper focus on craft, ethically-sourced materials and artisanal, small batch production.
Rùadh is a Scottish Gaelic word that I chose because of its proximity to reliance and strength, much like the Scottish culture itself.
Having a deep respect for the land I grew up in has embedded in me a reverence and a desire to protect it. I intentionally launched with B Corp (pending) status which gives us parameters in which to source, grow and govern within the ecosystem of accountability.
I craft our clothing from regenerative and organic cotton, wash with Bluesign approved chemicals and ship in biodegradable packing. I also offer a take-back program where the items are upcycled or fully recycled.
The collection is sensory and pragmatic, with a sculptural feel denoting strength. Each piece is imbued with a purpose, a story or a memory.
What/who inspires you: Oh so much! I love Luca Guadagnino movies, Tilda Swinton’s style, looking back to Jacobite traditional dress, or researching vintage jewelry.
I am an endless collector of vintage clothing which can help to inform a construction or a detail that can act as the thread for a collection, a chance to revisit a classic look in a new incarnation.
In large part I find travel food for the soul too, which fuels my creativity and is a source of endless inspiration. I just returned from a trip to Istanbul which I find to be a very romantic city and a cultural center, where I visited fabric mills and roamed the city. The old city in particular really struck me, digging around the grand bazaar and eating Turkish delight in one of the oldest shops in town was incredible.
Favorite denim moments of all time: I am an avid collector of vintage denim and have a huge archive at home that I am constantly drawing from. Any piece that has been hand repaired or reworked is my favorite, I just love to see a piece that the wearer has painstakingly reworked and worn to threads.
Some of my favorite denim moments include images of Patti Smith in a low rise slim jean, perfectly destroyed, and Robert Mapplethorpe in a slim flare that puddles perfectly over his shoe.
Brigitte Bardot in La Verite, Judd Nelson in the Breakfast Club, Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing, so many good ones!
What Rùadh pieces are you currently wearing on repeat? I have been living in our black Archer jean and the Holt t-shirt. This silhouette is quite oversized and I like to wear it with a heel for a confident feel.
I style the Fionn jacket back to the Archer jean in soft grey for a more elevated look. I crafted the buttons on the Fionn jacket with an artisan in New York out of solid silver to achieve the shape and look as I wanted to capture a “jewel like” feel in our hardware that accentuates the collection. These touches give our denim an elevated, dressier feel.
What's the best way to get into oversized shapes if you are new to the concept? I always recommend starting with a fuller jean and pairing it back to a more slim fit top or jacket so that you have the balance between the shapes.
That is a great place to begin, and then you can tip toe into experimenting with fuller tops/jackets back to a wider straight leg. With this type of look I think a heel can help to give you a bit of a lift that can help lighten the shapes. Styling with a cross body bag that helps accentuate the waist is always a good tip too.
Favorite way to wear denim in the summer: With a sandal, a tank and a shirt or summer sweater worn over the shoulders. I like to keep it easy, less is more and let the shapes speak for themselves. Our Nola short is the perfect balance between dressy and classic, I wear it with a knee-high boot in the colder months and a sneaker and sock in the summer.
Editor’s Note: The devil is in the details when it comes to Rùadh and it’s what sets Jac’s designs apart. The pieces I am buying include the Quinn jean (so flattering, I took a 27) and I think everyone should own the Isla T-shirt (it has double layer sleeves which give them a shape, a nipped in waist and seaming details; this is an elevated tee). Next on my wish list: The Finlay shirt (which is super lightweight), the Scott hoodie (styled as shown, unzipped a bit both ways with the hoodie slightly cinched) and the Mhor jacket (it has bias cut sleeves).—JA
Belinda Smith of St. Rose
What was your career path leading up to St. Rose and how did you to get into scent? I worked in fashion and luxury jewelry in creative marketing roles before venturing to do my own consulting and design agency. My first memories of life are of living on a sheep station in a beautifully rural part of New South Wales, Australia. When my family moved to the United States, scent for me became a subconscious form of travel to people and places between my two worlds. My perfume collection began growing quite early!
My formative years as a farm kid brought a deep connection to nature and appreciation for seeing the labor of a seed to become your dinner, and the wool shorn from the sheep running in the back paddocks knitted into a jumper. Fast forward to my early thirties, working for the corporate side of fashion brands and realizing the average journey of a product before hitting store shelves is far far longer, with minimal visiblity or traceability on the brand side, let alone for the customer. I decided I wanted to create a brand told through a different perspective. St. Rose is named for the Patron Saint of Gardeners and the brand is committed to working in harmony with nature to create olfactive art using exquisite raw botanical ingredients that are sustainably sourced directly from origin throughout the world.
What makes St. Rose different than other perfume brands? We are creating products that I personally want to wear and that I know my friends will love. The brand pillars such as our eco-responsible design, clean formulations and transparent requirements make the technical feat behind these masterpieces. The scents are composed by some of the world's most incredible perfumers whom we are so fortunate to collaborate with, because it's the beauty of the scent itself that has to be compelling. It's why I began. I was a frustrated consumer, wanting a cleanly formulated perfume that didn't feel like a departure from the genre of fine fragrances I'd been wearing. I decided we needed to find an uncompromising approach to deliver complex natural perfumes for a sophisticated palette with a high-performance clean beauty approach in that the scents would project on skin and offer a long wear time. While we are a clean beauty brand, we've taken an artistry-first approach, always with ingredient integrity in mind, to create show stopping scents that rival anything on the marketplace.
What do you love most about scent? It's ability to make you daydream. Our sense of smell is the closest of our five senses to the part of the brain that stores memories, which is why a waft of a scent on the breeze can instantly and powerfully transport you. A simple spritz of a perfume has the ability to make you instantly feel pulled together or grounded, sexy, powerful, or like the version of you that you wish to step into.
What/who inspires you? So many things! I'm quite eclectic as a creative and lean into so many different styles and genres from design to music. Travel and being in nature are absolutely top of the list when I need to ignite some magic. I also turn to icons who were rebels in their own field, Vivienne Westwood, Patti Smith, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks to name a few.
What St. Rose scent are you currently wearing? I love a signature scent for others, as I remember a time when I could look at my collection of fragrances that cataloged a moment in my life. Like when I went from Dior's Miss Dior Cherie to Pure Poison in college.
Getting to play in an aromatic garden all day between wearing the St. Rose collection and working on new projects, I am always 'dressing in scent' for the day or my mood. Two of newest, Out Of The Blue and L'été 67, are what I have been reaching for the most currently. Out Of The Blue is like pure cashmere, so chic and dressed up against my jeans and t-shirt ensemble. L'été 67 will absolutely be my scent of summer. It's a little salty and briny warmed up with a sexy ambery jasmine. Endless summer bottled.
What summer smells are most evocative for you? I'd never want to wear it as a perfume and it was ironically something we kept referring to in our soleil scent project which became L'été 67 as what NOT to do, but I do love the nostalgia of sunscreen. Campfires, freshly mowed grass, and of course the smell of flowers in the garden are other favorite summer smells.
What is the one aroma you wish you could bottle? The sweet milky scent of my kids at this phase in their toddler and baby years. Of visiting my dad when I was little while he was out with the horses and the scent of leather saddles and straw. My dear friend Brianna Lipovsky's gorgeous brand, Maison d'Etto which is inspired by horses gets the closest to this one for me.
I'm currently on a scent quest to find the sharp green scent in a particular part of the garden at my paternal grandmother's house or the right combination of orange and lily that makes me think of walking into the kitchen at my maternal grandmother's home. Fragrance is really a way of bottling modern nostalgia.
Editor’s Note: I have not yet had a chance to try all of the St. Rose scents, I fell in love with L’été 67 (love the dreamy name), but not now I feel that I must try Out of the Blue. I will report back so stay tuned!—JA
x
Jennifer
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So happy to read about these two. Names that are new to me. Looking forward to giving both a try. Thanks for sharing.