Ruben Toledo: Film, photography—pretty much everything. Writing as well. For me, it all comes down to communication. Any way I can connect with people—whether through drawing, painting, photography, words, storytelling, or animation—is valid. What matters is reaching people.
You have to penetrate the soul to make an impact, especially today, when we’re surrounded by so much imagery, so much visual information, so much art. In that sense, we’re lucky. But the real question is: how do you touch someone’s soul? That’s the secret. And that’s the secret of being an artist. It’s the will to affect someone—to move them—and, in turn, to be affected as well.

RT: I don’t really think of myself as having a style. I believe that for every artist, style is a kind of fingerprint—it’s their personality, their soul, their breath. It’s their DNA. Anything else you try to manufacture or imitate feels artificial. To me, an artist has to be one hundred percent truthful. You can’t lie in art.

RT: I’m sharing my emotions—my inner world. It’s like entering another reality, a kind of fairytale. That feeling is very true to me.
You know my story, right? I met my wife when we were both thirteen. We were married for forty years and grew up side by side, creating together. She worked in fashion, I drew instinctively, and over time we built our own universe—a space of magical realism, poetry, and protection.
I believe that when people fall in love, they create their own universe. The more it grows, the stronger it becomes, and the more others can feel it. My work and Isabel’s fashion ideas were never separate.(Editor’s note: Isabel Toledo was a celebrated fashion designer, widely known for creating Michelle Obama’s inauguration outfit. She passed away in 2019.) Ego only gets in the way, so we created together. We were like an oyster and a pearl.

RT: I don’t think it is. I think we’re just too distracted by other things. But it isn’t rare—we all have that gift. I truly believe that. I try to tell young artists, especially those just starting out, to trust in it. You just have to eliminate the noise—all the other information.

RT: Yes, it’s really about our life—about our love story, and also our love affair with New York City. It begins in 1967 and continues to the present, from those early years to moments like dressing Michelle Obama. It includes the punk and New Wave era, when I was in a band, and our beginnings at Pucci.

RT: I think Ralph Pucci was truly ahead of his time. Our collaboration began in 1988. He was incredibly brave—back then, almost no one was doing this, and cross-disciplinary work like that simply didn’t exist.
We were in New York at the same moment, and he intuitively understood how deeply art, fashion, and design are interconnected—you can’t separate one from the other. He opened his studio to my wife for fashion shows, surrounded himself with artists, and created a space where disciplines naturally overlapped. Entering that world at the time required real courage.
That’s what made Ralph special. He never turned back. Whether he was the very first or not matters less than the fact that he gave opportunities to countless artists. His early parties brought together figures like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Basquiat—everyone was there. He remains a unique figure, and the story of him and his family is extraordinary.