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Community Archive



The Willi Smith Digital Community Archive invites friends, collaborators and admirers of American designer Willi Smith to share in writing his history. This site collects and publishes personal recollections, new scholarship, video, and digital ephemera that contributes to a greater understanding of Smith’s life, work, and times.


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Me at the Taj Mahal in 1986, which was taken by one of the [people of the] WillWear India team who gave me a tour of Agra. I will always remember seeing the Taj Mahal in person, only ever having seen it in books. The trip to India left an indelible mark on my life, thanks to Willi Smith. I wish I had known him in life, but so honored to have been part of his legacy in fashion history. Christine Rucci at Taj Mahal during trip to India with the WilliWear production team, summer 1987

Christine Rucci


In 1987, I was hired to be part of the anonymous design team to carry on Willi’s legacy, along with Bob Andrew and Liz Flynn. I was the textile designer and was sent to India to develop the fabrics for the collection. It was on that trip that I learned weaving with textile masters, including madras, eyelets, and prints. I traveled all over India, and it was on this trip that I was told of Willi’s last trip where he went to the Lotus Temple in Delhi, and it was told to me how he prayed about his health in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. My desk was right next to his office, which remained off-limits, but I could see in, and his presence was felt. I have a few treasures from the trip to India, which remind me of my time at WilliWear, including an ornament and the original eyelet prototype from an antique trader’s shawl, which was used to inform the color palette of the collection.

That trip to India changed my life. My “mind’s eye” can still recall the colors of the saris, the silver jewelry, and the temples. I can recall seeing the Gateway of India in Bombay (now Mumbai), and I often dream of that time. When I do, I think back fondly of my brief time at WilliWear and how lucky I was to have been chosen to work there after Willi passed. And being a young girl when WilliWear was everything to an up-and-coming designer.


Antique shawl used to inform the color palette of the fall 1988 WilliWear collection, purchased from seller Eileen Danzing Cover of Women's Wear Daily, October 28, 1987 issue, with review of the first women’s collection for WilliWear after Willi Smith’s passing by the "anonymous design team," featuring textiles by Christine Rucci and Liz Flynn The "Anonymous Design Team" in Willi Smith's office, from left to right: Liz Flynn, Bob Andrews, and Christine RucciRucci wears a long, gray double-breasted jacket from the fall 1986 WilliWear collection.


This website was designed by and created in collaboration with Cargo, as part of its ongoing initiative to support arts, design and culture.

This website was designed by and created in collaboration with Cargo, as part of its ongoing initiative to support arts, design and culture.