Consider the term, ruffian, and your mind will no doubt conjure all manner of the usual associations: rowdy thug, cutthroat, hell raiser. It is a term synonymous with the uncivilized, the impure, and the savage. However, your perception of the word will certainly change once you meet NAC members extraordinaire, Brian Wolk and Claude Morais. In addition to heading the Junior Committee, they are also the creators of acclaimed design house Ruffian. I recently had the opportunity to spend a delightful afternoon in their elegant studio overlooking the garment district, sipping tea with “the boys,” as they are fondly referred to by Club members in-the-know. Nibbling on a Milano cookie and contemplating their distinctive aesthetic, I was moved to re-imagine the term ruffian in their honor, finally settling upon the definition, savage sophisticate.

Handsome, charming, and talented, Brian and Claude are the absolute paradox of ruffian, at least on the surface. I found myself marveling at how they could have come up with a designer label that is both strikingly contrarian and curiously apt. After all, as I discovered throughout the course of our interview, while they are inarguably urbane, they are also cutthroat when it comes to their craft in the brutal arena of couture. And while they are extremely well-mannered, some would consider them hell raisers in terms of their brashness in boldly bringing new and experimental art into the realm of the tradition-bound club. It was the formality of the club that initially appealed to them as members; however, it was their own desire to meld innovation and freshness with that tradition that fuels their ongoing dedication to the Club.

The theme of intriguing opposites extends also to the dynamic between the two “boys” themselves. Despite the fact that they live, work, and play together, Brian and Claude are distinct individuals with contrasting styles; nonetheless, their disparate styles co-exist tranquilly like “yin” and “yang” to form a blessed union. Brian, a sweet-faced brunette with classic, All-American good looks, boasts an impressive background in fashion design and costume design that has given him free reign to work in film, theatre, and opera (not to mention the House of Chanel). Claude, with his long, lithe physique and shaved head, possesses a more feral allure, and has worked at the other end of the fashion spectrum-- as a model and stylist. The unique combination of Brian’s fastidiously cultivated training and Claude’s internationally bred taste and worldliness is at the heart of their elegant collaborations.

As co-Chairs of the Junior Committee for the past five years, Brian and Claude have led the Committee in sponsoring four to five events every year. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Roundtable Committee by current NAC President O. Aldon James, the Junior Committee now organizes cultural and social events that set new precedents for novelty. Brian and Claude’s first event prior to becoming co-Chairs took place at the Club in September 2000, when they showed a collection of Ruffian accessories sponsored by Vogue. That first event’s success inspired Aldon to tap “the boys” to form and helm the Junior Committee. Since that show, Brian and Claude have conscientiously steered the Committee away from fashion events in order to avoid oversaturation with conventional fashion influences, choosing rather to focus the Committee’s efforts on other branches of art, such as music, dance, literature, and film.

This past year, the Junior Committee’s events have included a fiction reading, a cabaret show, a portraiture exhibit, and a “cheap art sale.” Despite the eclectic nature of these events, all of them centered around Brian and Claude’s mission to preserve and honor the Club’s classical tradition, while also welcoming new ideas and new members eager to make fresh contributions to the Club.

Although Brian and Claude modestly refrain from using the Club to promote their own designs, the Club and its members are gloriously free to bask in the reflected glory that these two modern renaissance “boys” and their impressive Ruffian collections bestow. After all, these “boys” are well on their way to attaining full-grown master status in their field. Brian and Claude were recently honored by Fashion Group International’s Ninth Annual Rising Star Awards as nominees in the category of women’s ready-to-wear design. Their Fall 2005 collection, “American Romantic,” was praised by The New York Times for its “finesse.” (NYT, Sept. 2005) Their designs have been photographed by prominent shutterbugs like Steven Meisel and Karl Lagerfeld for such esteemed fashion publications as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Their latest collection, entitled “American Novel,” will be shown at the Club this spring. The collections feature opulent embroideries and sumptuous hand-made textiles skillfully tailored into luxurious designs—30’s inspired silk dresses and sailor-style trousers—that exude confidence, sensuality, and sophistication. Their designs combine couture tradition with the reality of the modern woman, paying homage to an era when people dressed deliberately.

The enormous creativity and boundless energy that Brian and Claude dedicate to their label is echoed in their ceaseless devotion to the Club. Whether they are leading the Junior Committee in conceiving exciting new experiences for members, or inviting new acquaintances to soak in the ambience at 15 Gramercy Park South, or seeking out inspiration for their next Ruffian design collection, Brian Wolk and Claude Morais are the ultimate ruffians of NAC style—bullies who demand artistic perfection, social formality, and uncompromised beauty. But, be warned, they will raise hell—albeit with impeccable manners—in order to achieve those admirable aims.

Claude: Yes, there is lots of light, and the view is a very romantic view of Manhattan, with all the buildings and the garment district. There is something very 30’s and 40’s about this view. There is a beautiful sunset from the river. In the summer, we will have tea and watch the boats going by on the river.

I’ve got to ask this question. Why Ruffian as the name of your design house?

Brian & Claude: When we first started the business, we focused on accessories, namely “ruffs,” inspired by the 16th century Elizabethan collars, hence the name. It was a funny juxtaposition, considering the literary definition of the word, versus the refined tailoring and construction of the collar. As the company grew, we found our unique way of working quite ruffian, as compared to the standard of the fashion industry, and the name stuck.

How did you two first become involved with the Club?

Brian: I grew up in Rockland County, New York, and friends of my parents were members of the NAC, so I used to go with them all the time to the Club. After I graduated from F.I.T., I joined and became the Club’s youngest member. I’ve now been a member for seven years, but at home, pinned up on my personal bulletin board, I still have my framed acceptance letter. It’s very faded, but it’s still there!

Claude: Brian and I first met at the Club, and that meeting got me interested. I’ve been a member now for about four years.

Brian: The Club is very much our home away from home.

Claude: Actually, our house, a townhouse in Williamsburg, even looks like the Club. Brian collects portraits, so we have all this art on the walls.
Brian: We love the Club.

Claude: Yes. We love to go to the Club often, and the more we go, the more we enjoy it. We love sharing the Club with friends and family.

Claude: Mr. James had an idea to create another committee apart from the Roundtable Committee. He appreciated and sensed our energy, so he asked us to head it, and the Board approved.

Brian: Yes, we love Mr. James. He was sensitive to our energy and how interested Brian and I were in the Club. Many people became members out of our interest. Our first event at the Club was a small, Vogue-sponsored show for Ruffian. It featured our first collection, which was entirely accessories—neckties, collars, gloves. Even though we have since branched out to clothing, that first collection still influences our current work.

What are the goals of the Junior Committee?

Brian: We are very interested in the formality of the Club and the level of socializing and conversation it creates. We want to focus on the Classical tradition and to show the work of younger artists in music, dance, and literature.

Claude: We also want to bring a freshness into all of these art forms, in collaboration with the other committees.

Brian: Another aim of the Junior Committee is to make sure the younger membership is more active.

Pardon me, but isn’t the Library trying to court a younger membership?

Brian: The Accompanied Library does sponsor parties for younger people, but it is not a formal committee, unlike the Junior Committee.

Claude: Yes, and the Junior Committee is youthful, so it appeals to a younger audience. But it is also available to everyone. We do not focus on a single age group; we are very approachable.

Editor’s Note: The Accompanied Library is not a part of the National Arts Club. They are a separate private club governed by their own membership rules and governing by-laws. The Accompanied Library members do not have NAC membership privileges. NAC Junior Committee members are NAC members and have full NAC rights and privileges.

What events has the Junior Committee recently mounted?

Brian: The first event this year was a reading for Vestal McIntyre’s first book, You are not the One, which is a collection of short stories. The stories are wonderful and very modern, and we really wanted to support this voice of a new generation. Vestal is very talented, and his book was also recognized as a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.

Claude: The book got a great review in The New York Times and a number of new members attended the event. In addition, the fiction editor from The New Yorker was in the audience that evening. Last June, our closing event was an exhibition of portraiture. It was open to all members and all mediums—from charcoal to oils to photography.

Brian: Yes, the idea was to take something classical and redefine it, but while still remaining within the parameters of the classical tradition.

Claude: Some members even sold their pieces from that show.

Brian: Our end-of-the-year art event for this season is going to be a “Cheap Art Sale.”

Claude: It will revisit and echo the spirit of the improvised “Cheap Art Sale” we put on two years ago at the end of our first year. The idea was to have every member of the Club bring their artwork, show it and then sell it that night for under $100. The money went to Club renovations.

Brian: Another experimental art event we sponsored was the “Black and White Salon,” which spotlighted cabaret performances.

Claude: The cabaret was live music and entertainment. We used all the parlors, and we opened up all their doors, so it was pure cabaret. We had a good turn-out, and everyone dressed according to the theme. All night long we had piano players, bass players, violinists, poetry readings. And tomorrow night is our event featuring Nurit Pacht, a classical violinist virtuoso. She will be performing with the Flatiron Trio, a chamber music ensemble.
Brian: It’s a real coup for us to have her come to the Club. She’s very well-known, and we’re very excited about it. We’re expecting 150-200 people will be attending.

Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted on January 4, 2005. “A Winter Recital featuring Nurit Pacht & Flatiron Trio” took place at the NAC on January 5, 2005 at 8 p.m.

How do you two manage to balance all the work you do for the Club and your own collections?

Claude: We keep our Club event-planning very simple and efficient, so it comes organically. Things like decorating we streamline to keep costs low.

Brian: Yes, we don’t charge any fees, and we don’t have to since we keep things simple. We keep to about four events a year, and we don’t have multiple meetings before an event, just one or two. We also keep our work and the Club separate; we don’t use the Club to promote our work.

Claude: After producing fashion shows twice-a-year for the past few years, planning Club events is almost like a vacation from the designing for us.

Brian: What also makes it easier is that the Club has always supported our work…

Claude: …so supporting the Club seems like a natural thing to do.

Honestly, you don’t think your own design work suffers even a little from your dedication to the Junior Committee and the Club?

Brian: No, in fact our Fall 2005 collection was inspired by a lecture on Arts & Crafts that we attended one evening at the Club. That lecture compelled us to create the collection, to show the potential of things. The Arts & Crafts movement showed people what things were, and that is kind of what we like to do in terms of our clothing, to show people how things used to be made and the inherent potential things possess. And I think the Club is like that too, because the formality of it shows how things used to be.

Yes, it does seem that you two are completely unfazed by the balancing act. In fact, you exude an air of glamorous contentment.

Brian: The day-to-day existence [of designing] isn’t so glamorous, despite the general perception. But to quote Karl Lagerfeld: “No one wants their dress designer to live a Kafka-esque existence.” We kind of do, in a way, but no one wants to see that part of the struggle; they want to see the show.

Claude: But it’s an art form, so I guess every artist has to struggle. It’s a lot of struggle.

If you could choose anyone to represent your vision by donning your designs, who would it be?

Brian: The Ruffian woman is intelligent, multi-cultural and possesses a youthful spirit. I’m inspired by a breed of rising new superstars; for example, Zooey Deschanel, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie. They are very smart and sexy females.

You mentioned that you have a very specific design process. Can you tell me about it?

Brian: We do a lot of research for our collections. We have a lot of interest in culture and art, but everything inspires us a little. We make appointments at museums and libraries to look at the work of designers from the past. For our Fall 2005 collection, we drew some inspiration from the book Intimate Companions, a triography of Paul Cadmus, Lincoln Kirstein, and George Platt Lynes. They essentially created the contemporary art scene in New York during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. They brought George Balanchine from Russia. It’s a very romantic story because they had these crazy relationships with each other. This season, we’re reading more designer and artist biographies and Restoration comedies. This past summer, we read Baudelaire on the beach to each other. Club members may not know this, but we also design all our own textiles, which are inspired by famous designers and artists we admire. We always put our names in our fabric—secretly.

Brian, you worked at Chanel for two years. What was that like?

Brian: It was a great experience. Working in Europe is an important formative experience for any American fashion designer.

Claude, do you feel your background as a model shaped your work as a designer?

Claude: For me, modeling was a way to escape, to travel, to live in Europe, to visit Asia and Japan. It introduced me to people on the scene and to fine clothes, and it cultivated my taste, the way I dress, the clothes I like, and forged a vision. But I didn’t learn from the modeling in a technical way. I think I learned about fashion design by instinct, organically, which is kind of how I have learned all my life.

What future projects are you interested in pursuing?

Claude: The future for me is to continue to grow and to have contact with every type of media and art form. I would like to do a little movie, a motion picture. We already have an idea based on the Walt Stillman film, Metropolitan. It would be a very simple, very old-school, popcorn screening.

Brian: I would also like to do--in the realm of film--some kind of Junior Committee Film Festival to show the work of new filmmakers. I want to work on that with a curator. As much as Claude and I are Renaissance men and kind of know a little about everything, sometimes we really want the help of an expert, like a curator.
We also really want to do a Junior Committee Scholarship Fund, so we can give a deserving person—a writer or an artist—the opportunity to spend a year working at the Club.

Is there anything that you would like Club members to know about you that they may not already know?

Brian: We are very approachable and inclusive.

Claude: Yes, the Junior Committee is very approachable and sociable. We are open to changes that will bring the Club into the future.

I can tell from the photograph on your website that you embrace different styles—Brian, you’re wearing a tie with a button-down dress shirt, while Claude, you’ve opted for a polo shirt with the neck left unbuttoned. Yet, the two of you look so great standing there together. You really complement each other.

Brian: I like formality, Fragonard, Ingres, Renaissance paintings.

Claude: He would be at King Louis’ court, and I would be a monk in a monastery. The tapestry, the fabric, the French style—I like it too, but give me a monastery and a little bed, and I am happy. My tastes run more toward deKooning and Pollack.

Brian: I like them too, and Modigliani.

Claude: Yes, but you’re so Baroque, and I’m more monastic.