UOF INSTRUCTOR UPDATE: RUCHIRA AMARE

Our fans and subscribers LOVE to hear what our esteemed instructors are up to these days and if you’ve been reading this blog for the past month, then you know that some of our instructors are newly minted entrepreneurs: our menswear instructor, Rishabh Manocha and our swimwear instructor, Jessica Krupa, each have launched their flourishing new businesses.

This week, we’d like to put the spotlight on Ruchira Amare, an amazing talent who manages to combine her artistic talents with her technical fashion design skills. And, she too has launched her brand.

At UoF, Ruchira shares her expertise as an “artistic engineer” in her lessons:  Designer’s Inspiration & Portfolio, Fashion Illustration Using Pastels, Fashion Illustration Using Watercolors, Drafting a Women’s Jacket and Women’s Jacket Pad-Stitching & Inner Construction.

RUCHIRA AMARE (AKA Y.R. Egon)

UoF instructor, artist/designer Ruchira Amare (Image courtesy: Ruchira Amare)

Ruchira was born and raised in Mumbai and is a life-long learner. Although she earned a bachelor’s degree in technology and communication engineering at the University of Mumbai, Ruchira, who has always been interested in the arts, listened to her heart, and pursued individual study with famous Mumbai artists, photography at the National Institute of Photography Mumbai and eventually moved to New York to study fashion design. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Parsons the New School for Design and has worked under fashion designers Donna Karan, Laura Smalls and Peter Speliopoulous.

fashion illustration by Ruchira Amare

Live model fashion illustration by Ruchira Amare, aka Y.R. Egon (Image courtesy: Ruchira Amare)

Ruchira is a modern-day polymath. She is just as comfortable using her engineering skills to draft and sew tailored jackets as she is with a paint brush in her hand. As a fine artist, Ruchira’s work has been exhibited in Manhattan at the Dacia Gallery, The Leo House and Space 776. In Brooklyn her artwork has been exhibited at Established Gallery and the Greenpoint Gallery, and her photography at 440 Gallery. Her work was also featured at the Rochester Contemporary Art Centre in Rochester, New York, in Laguna Beach at Six Summit Gallery and online at the Colors of Humanity gallery.

Illustration by Ruchira Amare

Collage by Ruchira Amare – watercolor on paper with newspaper print entitled: Girl with Yellow Glasses (Image courtesy: Ruchira Amare)

Ruchira’s fashion illustrations have been featured during New York Fashion Week and her work was chosen as part of The New School Alumni Bookshelf 2022, a highly curated list of works by their most notable alum.

fashion illustration by Ruchira Amare

Fashion illustration by Ruchira Amare (AKA Y.R. Egon) exhibited during NYFW Art Hearts Fashion event at Angel Orensanz Church. (Image courtesy: Ruchira Amare)

In 2021, Ruchira continued her studies at the New York Academy of Art and the School of Visual Arts. She also explored block printing in India, using plant-based natural dyes from turmeric, dogwood and indigo. Ruchira’s new business venture combines age old block printing techniques, with contemporary motifs from her paintings, to create a fresh take on sustainable fashion.

block printing

Ruchira’s Indian block-printing using plant-based natural dyes. (Image courtesy: Ruchira Amare)

fashion sketches by Ruchira Amare

Block-printed fashion designs using sustainable dyes inspired by Ruchira’s artwork. (Image courtesy: Ruchira Amare)

block printed scarf by Ruchira Amare

Ruchira’s mission is to lead a happy life and be able to share her craft with the world, We wish Ruchira much success in all of her endeavours and especially with her new block printing sustainable clothing venture!

For more info on Ruchira:

Facebook: Ruchire Amare

Instagram: @ruchiraamare

Website: www.yregon.com

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Francesca Sterlacci is the CEO of University of Fashion (UoF) which she founded in 2008 as the first online fashion video library bringing the art and craft of fashion design and business to schools, libraries, organizations and the general public. As owner of her eponymous label for ten years, her collection sold in fine stores such as Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Barneys and Nordstrom. As a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology for 11 years, she became Chair of the Fashion Design Department where she initiated the complete revision of their AAS and BFA degree programs, as well as wrote three certificate programs: Leather Fashion Design, Outerwear and Haute Couture. Francesca has also taught graduate level fashion design at the Academy of Art University San Francisco for six years, both on site and online. Her publishing accomplishments include: Leather Apparel Design, the Historical Dictionary of the Fashion Industry (First and Second Editions), the A-Z of the Fashion Industry, Leather Fashion Design and a 3-volume beginner series on Draping, Pattern Making and Sewing designed to complement the UoF lessons. She has also made literary contributions to both the Encyclopedia of Clothing & Fashion and You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Women. Francesca holds an AAS, BA and an MSEd (master’s degree in higher education).