Unveiling a new holiday collection, Summer Fling with Emma Jing, Ruby designer Deanna Didovich and Emma Jing discuss collaborating from across the globe, working with constraints and circularity, and where they love to go when the temperature rises.
A leading name amongst a cohort of young talent, Emma Jing’s opulent accessories and sensual clothes would often sell-out whenever a new collection was released. The New Zealand designer’s swansong runway show on Karangahape Rd (alongside regular collaborator Taylor Groves) in 2023 followed by a relocation to London earlier this year.
But a new collaboration with Ruby gives fans the chance to pick up a piece, while introducing her work to a new audience.
“It’s been so lovely working with a brand in Aotearoa,” says Emma, who’d paused her design work while finding her feet in London. “I have felt pretty disconnected from my Aotearoa customers and feel like it’s an exciting way for people to have something I’ve been working on from London but still be able to purchase easily in New Zealand.”
She was already familiar with the brand. “I used to save up my part-time job money in high school and queue up for the sample sales,” Emma says, so collaborating “feels pretty full circle and exciting for me.”
Ruby designer Deanna Didovich had been admiring Emma’s work for a number of years, and her name was the first to come up when the brand started considering potential collaborators. “We were all instantly sure she was the right person. We have always loved Emma’s fresh perspective,” explains Deanna. “We felt we could create something special by combining our two aesthetics, as there is a softness and romantic feeling about both that we believed would work beautifully together.”
Starting with accessories, the collection is a natural complement to the holiday capsule collection — which was created “for our Rubettes heading away on a European summer” says Deanna.
“We reached out to Emma immediately and got the ball rolling.” Conversations around ideas and designs were shared online.
“I took Emma through the collection of what fabrics, colours and shapes were envisaged in the capsule. From there, Emma designed and sampled the pieces, with particular fabrics from the collection in mind.”
The process was “a dream” Deanna says, even with the geographic distance. “Being in London really was no barrier, as once the designs and fabric selections were done, Emma sent patterns down and they were put into production locally.”
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The holiday brief fit quite naturally with Emma’s work. “I feel like my designs tend to lean for a warmer climate anyway as I love using cottons and silks so they often end up being summer clothes,” she explains, and drew from logistics of travelling for design parameters. “I really wanted to utilise the idea of the summer holiday and not being able to pack a lot. I wanted the accessories to be versatile and be worn multiple ways. For example, the sleeves can be paired with singlets to shield your shoulders from the sun or to be worn to dress up a casual day top to take it to a nighttime dinner look.” The bags have long straps for versatility, offering cross body, belt and over-shoulder options.
“The team gave me a lot of freedom over the designs which was super flattering,” Emma says. “It was really fun for me! I got to design and not have to produce myself which was a big treat.” Being able to produce higher units was also appealing.
It’s the first time Ruby has produced a Holiday collection in five years, and with increasing travel they saw an opportunity to revive the capsule. “With so many people heading overseas for mid-winter getaways, we wanted to have pieces in store”. Its resort assortment always sells well, so the release is timed ahead of spring.
As for Deanna’s dream summer fling? “I’d love to explore the south of Puglia. I was in the top half of Puglia last year and adored it. The food, the history and beaches were incredible, and not as overpriced as many other destinations.”
Emma is currently in the midst of London summer where she loves the season, and is excited to celebrate her birthday in this month. As far as summer flings go, “I’m going on holiday to Croatia with one of my oldest besties this summer so I feel like that counts,” she says. “Otherwise anywhere hot where you can swim is ideal for me! We are so spoilt for choice during European summer to be honest.”
She also loves dressing for summer, drawn to brighter hues, and has influences by the boldness of her new home. “I feel like there’s a lot more colour and loudness in London. People are wanting to stand out as there’s so many people in this city,” she says. “This did inspire me in a way; I feel like accessories can be used in this way to stand out to make an outfit pop, so I tried to channel this when designing.”
Beyond its creative value and market appeal, the accessory collaboration also helped create a blueprint for circular solutions. “We were able to cut the scrunchies within existing fabric cuts to reduce textile waste in our production,” says Deanna. “As we were able to produce these accessories in New Zealand, we were able to control our production wastage, be creative with our pattern engineering, and support the local industry.”
The textiles were chosen for their low environmental impact; the cobalt gingham in the collection is 100 per cent organic cotton, while the butter satin is 80 per cent Naia acetate (a textile produced using a circular textile manufacturing process).
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Advertise with NZME.It’s not the first time Ruby has teamed up with other talent. “I’ve always loved working with people outside the company on creative projects like our collaboration with Ryder Jones last year and Alma Proença the year prior,” says Deanna, who describes herself as naturally collaborative, an attribute shared by her wider team. “Supporting local is truly at the heart of Ruby and it’s inspiring to work with so many talented local creatives.”
Ruby Holiday launches on June 13. The brand will be celebrating the launch with an event London.
Emma Gleason is the deputy editor of lifestyle and entertainment (audience), and has worked on Viva for over four years, contributing stories on culture, fashion and what’s going on in Auckland.
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