SCANDALOUS HEIRESS IDA RUBENSTEIN INSPIRES A COUTURE FANTASY

Maurice Ravel's Boléro, that hypnotic piece from the classical music canon, has always been on top of Stéphane Rolland's list to track a runway show.

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

Equally as compelling for him is Ida Rubinstein, the eccentric heiress who commissioned this musical score for her ballet which made headlines just as much as the many scandals in her life. The designer married the two in Argument, his FW2025 Haute Couture collection imagined as an encounter between the composer and the ballerina—a meeting of cubic shapes, baroque detailing and sensual style.

Born in 1883 into one of the Russian Empire's wealthiest families overseeing sugar mills, breweries and banks, Rubinstein was orphaned at age eight, leaving her a vast fortune. Living with her aunt, the socialite Madame Gorvits, she grew up in a mansion in St. Petersburg's famed Promenade Anglais and received the best education in theater, music and dance including lessons from instructors of the Russian Imperial theaters. She eventually made it to Paris where she set out to perform on stage as an actress, a profession that horrified her conservative Orthodox relatives who considered it no different from that of a prostitute. To make things worse, she had a penchant for nudity, coming out in various stages of "indecent" outfits which were enhanced by her tall, slender figure and striking profile. To save the family honor, a brother-in-law, Dr. Levinson, had her declared legally insane and committed to an asylum.