BY KRISTA RAMSEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It all started with the bridesmaid dresses.
They weren't working, and fifth-grader Rob Harper knew it. His mother would bring them home from weddings she'd been in, stick them in the closet and Rob would begin reconstruction.
"Anything long would become short. Anything short would become slanted. I'd take off the sleeves," says Mr. Harper, now an Oak Hills High School junior. "I'd take that brown tape you use on packages and put them back together."
It was a humble start in the heady world of fashion design, but who says there wasn't a bridesmaid dress or two in Armani's past, or Versace's? Couture begins where couture begins.
Six years later, long after giving up brown tape for thread, 17-year-old Rob Harper has his own line of clothing, a zealousteen-age following and his first runway show tonight.
Bring on da funk
Thirty models -- picked out of 200 applicants from his Oak Hills classmates -- will strut his line of "Rubb Wear," a spin-off of his nickname, Rubby. Proceeds from the show, held in the high school auditorium, will benefit the school's student council projects.
If you go
Rubb Wear, a spring fashion show created by student designer Rob Harper, will be held at 7 p.m. today in the Oak Hills High School auditorium, 3200 Ebenezer, Bridgetown. Cost: $3.
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Like any designer, Rubby is nervous. The show is seven months in the making. It is an investment of thousands of his stitches, dozens of his evenings and -- perhaps most nerve-wracking -- a gamble of $1,000 of student council "seed money," that could have gone to more conservative fund-raisers.
Will classmates, teachers and community members give up a Saturday night for couture? Will his designs meet applause or disdain? It's the day the Rubb Wear, so to speak, hits the road.
It is an admittedly acquired taste.
The audience should be forewarned: Do not expect flounces, fringes or anything pink.
Expect funk, Mr. Harper advises.
'We knew him when'
There will be bell-bottoms in brown-and-gray plaid. Slim dresses. Cropped tops.
A powder-blue, Spice Girls sheath -- arguably the show's most popular creation -- defines the Rubby look. The bodice is fake fur, the body is soft knit, and two stripes of white reflective tape run down the side.
Tape is still part of Rob Harper's technique. This time, he wants to make sure people do see it.
For a basically quiet guy, Rob is getting rather used to being known. The pizza delivery man asks him, "Hey, aren't you the guy who designs clothes?" Moving through the lunchroom crowd at Oak Hills High School, he is undoubtably a celebrity of some stature.
"I'll have your pants soon," he calls to a girl who nods happily. He simply means he'll soon deliver the custom jeans -- outside seams split and quilted material added -- that have been his best-selling item. For ten bucks, he picks up, revamps and delivers.
In the lunch line, he is surrounded by ardent customers. He has designed a prom dress for one girl, a homecoming dress for another and a Queen of Hearts costume for his best friend, Susan Marie Rucker.
"We knew him in junior high when he had no style," says senior Shelly West. "He'll be really famous some time, but he won't forget us -- he won't forget his friends."
Devotee Michelle Mantuano looks on with pride. "Fashion designers don't usually come out of Delhi," she observes.
Rob Harper blushes, grins and keeps chowing his french fries. Besides giving up his evenings, sleep and peace of mind for this show, he has also given up his dinners.
"I used to have a job. I used to work at a pizza shop, but I quit," he says. "Everybody still asks me, "Where do you work?' "
"I just say, "I sew.' "
Krista Ramsey's column appears on Saturdays. Write her at 312 Elm Street, Cincinnati 45202.
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