Meet the Designer: Ronny Kobo

The label loved by It girls everywhere. We sat down with the founder to talk personal style, global influences, and what inspires her most.

One of the best parts of Rent the Runway is discovering the brilliant creative minds behind the brands you love and wear on repeat. As part of our series spotlighting RTR’s most beloved designers, I sat down with Ronny Kobo, the founder and namesake of the label known for its It-girl-approved designs. She welcomed us into her NYC office to talk personal style and what sparks ideas for her collections. You can watch bits of the interview on the RTR Instagram. Before we get into it, some of my fave Ronny Kobo pieces available to rent below ;)

From the left: Ronny Kobo Carmine Dress, Ronny Kobo Sloane Dress, Ronny Kobo Anya Dress, Ronny Kobo x RTR Black Sheer Crochet Dress, Ronny Kobo x RTR Combo Drop Waist Midi Dress, Ronny Kobo x RTR Crochet Dress

INTERVIEW

Abby: Welcome to Meet the Designer. We are here with Ronny Kobo. Hi. Do you want to introduce yourself?

Ronny: Hi. I'm Ronny Kobo and I'm wearing my favorite dress from Rent the Runway. And today RTR came to my office. No, sorry. I'll do it again. And today, we've invited RTR to our office to chat.

Abby: So Ronny you’re one of the most coveted designers on Rent the Runway and I’m so excited to get to know you.

Ronny: I didn't know that until today. And it's really amazing because we are very occasion driven… So it's nice to know that our mission is accomplished. Or en route to being accomplished.

Abby: I think it’s definitely accomplished. So tell us a little bit about what a day in the life of Ronny Kobo looks like.

Ronny: Well, it's not very consistent because my hands are in every department. But I'll tell you about today. This morning, I got in at 9 A.M., and I walked to work for sanity. I walk 40 blocks a day which I really enjoy, because I can have my calls in the morning while I'm walking. I don't know how safe that is.

Abby: Are you a speed walker or a slow walker?

Ronny: I'm a stroller. No, I'm definitely a stroller. I'm not doing it for exercise. It's more for mental health. Just like to have a morning. Especially when the weather's like this to really enjoy the morning. I got in at 9. Actually I'm lying. I got in at 9:30. I was late. We had a marketing collaboration meeting. We onboarded two very incredible interns. And we started to plan out the marketing for the next two weeks. We're very busy. It's right before the summer holidays, so everybody's busy.

Abby: It's market week, right?

Ronny: Yes with market week right now and we're going to Europe at the end of the month. So we had that. Then I had a quick, design review where we reviewed colors and fabrics for spring. I’m so excited to share that with you.

Abby: Can you give us a Pantone?

Ronny: We have our eye on a lot of pastels mixed with frosts and some browns and heathers. I'm really inspired by lace this season. That's why I merchandised lace here, but you're going to see a little more feminine approach to the line for spring which I haven't done for a while. And I always like the cool girl tomboy or the sexy vixen, but now you're going to have a very, you know, feminine and, girly, still sexy with side to the line.

Abby: And you often bring in more masculine structures to your pieces, right? So you're kind of taking a break from that for a second?

Ronny: Yeah. And embracing my feminine girly side. Let's see what happens. I mean, we just started developing this week. So perhaps by the summer I'm going to go back to the oversized and it will be a marriage. And it'll be a happy marriage of both.

Abby: Gorgeous. Love that. What do you do after work?

Ronny: Also inconsistent because, during the week, a lot of my social life revolves around, the business. So tonight, for example, I have a work event. It's a work dinner. There's going to be a red carpet. I have this amazing room filled with clothes so I don't really have to go home to change. I founded a really gorgeous brand. It's actually a perk I really appreciate is leaving the house in the morning, knowing that I have an event in the evening that I don't have to worry about what I’m going to wear. Because we have a full showroom of beautiful clothes.

Abby: Are you always wearing Ronny Kobo when you go out?

Ronny: Yes, I am. I'm always wearing Ronny Kobo when I'm going out and I cannot believe that it became that because when I started, it was not that way. You know, you really develop your artistry with practice. And over the years, I have to say that the product has developed into a quality that makes me very proud to wear it. So I very rarely am not wearing my brand, unless of course, I'm wearing sweatpants, which is basically me on the weekends.

Abby: So speaking about developing your artistry, you were born in Tel Aviv and you grew up in Hong Kong. Can you tell us a little bit about how the fashion and lifestyle in those places influenced all of your collections?

Ronny: Well, I moved to Asia when I was three years old and it was a very glamorous place. It was a melting pot of cultures. People from all over the world lived in Hong Kong. And at that time it was a British colony, and there were a lot of emerging businesses and families who were transient. So very often you would make friendships and after two years they would move back to different countries.

Abby: And you were there from three to what age?

Ronny: Until high school. And then I moved back to New York in high school. So we went from a very formal upbringing in Hong Kong, where there was a lot of occasion wear. Also, Hong Kong is a dressier city than New York City, I think, like the cool element of mixing high and low in New York is very evident and it's very part of the fashion culture of New York. You know, a rockstar-like personality. You can walk into a Michelin star restaurant with a pair of jeans and, like, a dirty t-shirt and a jacket. But in Hong Kong, it's a lot more formal. And I think that's where I got my occasion inspiration from. And then when I got to New York, it was 2000. So there was hip-hop and oversized clothes and very, cool-girl dressing. And I think the marriage of both is where I gained my inspiration. Also, I lived in London for a little portion for three years. I also lived in Paris, where I studied for two years. So I have a little bit of euro in the line as well. And I think a lot of the inspiration came from, I guess, 15 to 30, where spent those years, I don't want to say globetrotting because I wasn't trotting, I was in school, I was working, but very much international.

Abby: You can see a little bit of London, a little bit of New York, a little bit of all of these places, in all of your collections. Is there a moment that you can remember in your business development that was really challenging?

Ronny: I don't think the challenge goes away. I think it's just it morphs into something else. Just like when you have to put out one fire, there's always another one somewhere. And I think that's just like parenting, right? Or having a baby. I mean, this business is very much my baby so there's always putting out fires. There's always something exciting. There's always something that bums you out because you have to work ten times harder than you thought. So yeah, the struggle doesn't stop. And I think it continues as the business grows. There's just different kinds of struggles. I personally look back at the struggles in the beginning of the business and, you know, I kind of laugh at them because I think the struggles get a little bigger and a little riskier as the business grows.

Abby: Did you ever consider working for other designers, or was having your own brand always going to be in the cards for you?

Ronny: It just fell in my lap. I really wasn't going to be in fashion and it's something that I just loved to do as a hobby. While I was in graduate school, in college, and I did it for extra money, and it just developed into this lifestyle brand that was really my lifestyle and a lifestyle of my friends and the lifestyle of the people that I knew. And I thought there was a point of view that was missing in the contemporary market that I really wanted to bring.

Abby: What did you study?

Ronny: Cultural anthropology. Art history and Literature.

Abby: Did that influence the way you design at all?

Ronny: I mean, there's a definite sense of humor and intelligence to my customer. You know, I'm not saying it's a librarian chic line at all, but it's an empowering line because it's so sexy. And the women who are able to feel comfortable in these semi provocative, very fashion forward designs also seem to have some portfolio behind them, which means education and career. Self-awareness, confidence. Did I answer that right?

Abby: Yes. So we have seen celebrities like Kim K, Beyoncé, so many people in Ronny Kobo. Is that a big motivating factor for you to be dressing these bigger names?

Ronny: No no. Sorry. Is it a big factor to be dressing names? No. The big factor is creating the most incredible wardrobe that you can create, and hopefully it'll resonate with the right stylists and the right celebrities and, you know, sadly, in our culture, we follow so much [of] what celebrities wear that we lose our own sense of fashion or style. But I am hoping that through the pursuance of consistently and constantly creating beautiful clothing, we can reach all kinds of people, whether it's celebrities or women in the suburbs who are celebrating something special or women who are working who want to show up a certain way.

Abby: Definitely.

Ronny: I love when moms and daughters buy my line a lot, because that's something from my childhood that I used to love to share clothes with my mother. So I always love when I see a mom and daughter shopping. I'm actually a little more excited by a mom and daughter duo than anything else, to be honest.

Abby: Do you have any muses?

Ronny: I do find muses very important and sometimes they can be celebrities and sometimes they can be just talented, interesting women. I have muses all the time because the amazing part of this business is you get to meet so many women, and I get to meet so many women that are so talented and have their own careers and are doing such interesting things. Like you, for example, you came in as a two-women show and you set up this whole thing. But I'm inspired by, you know, women who are authentic to themselves, who are confident to be themselves. And I love women with a lot of personal style. So sometimes I'll meet a model who I'll connect to, and I'll love her personal style and her point of view. Or sometimes I'll be on vacation and I'll meet a dancer who moves a certain way in clothing. I'll get inspired by her. Or a female who is a philanthropist. And, you know, I'm just inspired by all kinds of women.

Abby: So I know that celebrities aren't a motivating factor, but do you have a favorite celebrity that's worn your clothes?

Ronny: Selena Gomez.

Abby: Yes.

Ronny: I love her and her stylist is amazing. Her stylist is Aaron Walsh, and they're so kind to support smaller businesses. Female-owned. And, I think that I really love when she wears my stuff because it's a positive thing. First of all, my little nieces and nephews all know who Selena Gomez is. And I think that Selena Gomez is a really positive celebrity. She's lovely.

Abby: During covid, you made the conscious decision to not go into loungewear even though those home-wear products were very relevant in the market at the time. Why?

Ronny: I wish I had the opportunity and to do whatever I want, whenever I want. But sometimes we need to think of the business right? Like if I decide to make 100% of my line, you know, only menswear suiting one season then what happens to my girls will love my sexy dresses. So it becomes a business. The contemporary market is not really trendsetting. To my luck, a lot of the things I like are very trend driven. I've always been a trendy kind of dresser and had a trendy point of view from where I go on vacation to what I do. Maybe it's part of living in New York City. But relevance is something that I want to take with a grain of salt. I have to be relevant to have a business, right? But I also want to be relevant because I want to be up to date. I think there's a lot of fear when you're growing into an adult and deep into your adulthood, the fear of missing out because you get in the monotony of the day to day running a business, going to work, having family, like whatever it is. And the fear of losing relevance can really affect you creatively. But in terms of driving the product relevance, as, for example, you were talking about, Covid, I did not want to do loungewear in Covid because I felt like it would be over saturated very, very soon. Six months into it, every brand was doing sweatpants. It was so difficult to set yourself aside from the person next to you. And I felt like by the time I would have produced and shipped loungewear during Covid, eventually we would go back to normal, and eventually I should just stick to what I do and what I do well. So that's what we did. And, we made it. We really made it. I was actually very surprised at the amount of online sales we had during Covid for dressy clothes. I think that a lot of our customers were in warmer weather places so they could socially engage in backyards or in open air spaces. So I just didn't have the instinct to trust to move into loungewear during Covid, and I'm happy I didn't, because it would not have worked out for us, because it would have just confused our customer. We buckled up and it wasn't an easy ride. We were not funded at the time and we lost our investors.

Abby: What is one boss move that you've made in your career that you're the most proud of? Any decisions you made or any pivots you took that you were really happy that you went that direction?

Ronny: I think there were a lot bigger challenges, like brands going out of business and not paying us bills and figuring out about, well I don't want to talk about a name of a of a company or a retail store, but it wasn't my first. But it's always a huge challenge, and one of your biggest customers goes out of business and just files chapter 11 and is not obligated to pay you and as a small business you need that cash flow. So overcoming something like that I think is one of the greatest challenges. And, what's amazing is always pivoting and being creative on figuring out how to move forward with such financial losses. And when the economy is shaky, every business owner and clothing industry is a little panicked.

Abby: What is a piece of advice that you would give to a younger designer or someone looking to start a brand?

Ronny: Stay true to yourself and stay true to your point of view, period. Because there is going to be a lot of distractions, a lot of trends. A lot of places that you can go and grow once you're in the development of a brand. But the most important thing is to stay true to yourself, because storytelling must be authentic and product has to be focused. You want to look at a company and know right away that's Ralph Lauren, that's Ronny Kobo. You know, who else I don't know whoever, you know, Love Shack Fancy. That's a very good brand identity. I'm sure they do well on Rent the Runway. You just need to look at a brand and know what it is. What they stand for, what's the lifestyle, where I'm wearing it. Our brand is very much for the Metropolitan. A lot of the times, people who are wearing our brand or emulating the lifestyle of our brand -it's usually people who live in a metropolitan city.

Abby: Couldn’t agree more. I definitely know a Ronny Kobo dress when I see one.

Ronny: That’s the truth.

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Have more designers on RTR you’re dying to get to know? Let us know in the comments or send us a DM!

💌,

Abby