Ryan Jude Novelline

Biography

Novelline is the second of four male children born to Dave, an IT professional, and Lisa Anne Novelline, an author and former dancer who performed with the Boston Ballet. He attended Lexington High School where he received a gold key prize from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers for a self-portrait drawing and awards for high academic achievement. He completed his BFA in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and interned for Diane von Fürstenberg and Walt Disney Imagineering.

2008-2011

In 2008 Novelline was commissioned, among other RISD students and faculty, by GAP creative director Patrick Robinson to create one-of-a-kind cardigans that would be sold out of GAP's flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York. In 2011 Novelline created designs that were shown at Harvard University's fashion show, Eleganza. One of his dresses, an aquamarine and topaz Swarovski crystal-embellished gown, was made from repurposed hotel curtains and modeled by Sonia Dara.

The Golden Book Gown

During an elective college course in RISD's fashion department in 2010, Novelline created a garment from recycled materials. He acquired hundreds of recycled and discarded Little Golden Books from the Salvation Army and Ebay in order to construct a dress comprised entirely of the illustrations from the books sewn together with metallic gold thread, and a bodice was made from the books' foil spines. Tommy Hilfiger called the piece “amazing”. The work of contemporary art, titled The Golden Book Gown, received widespread attention for its design and innovative use of material. According to Italian Glamour, the piece “lascia tutti a bocca aperta” or “left everyone in awe.” Publishers Weekly said that the dress “proves that green fashion can provide as rich a fantasia as can be imagined.” The gown was voted the “most creative” fashion design of 2011 by Ecouterre.

2012-present

The Golden Book Gown was displayed at the National Heritage Museum in 2012. In 2013 the gown was featured alongside a Robert Wilson video portrait of Brad Pitt in The Final Word show at the Drift Contemporary Art Gallery, where Novelline challenged viewers to consider whether or not "the stories of our past become part of a sustainable future.” His installment served as the centerpiece of the exhibition. In 2014 he made a dress from the pages of recycled graphic novels for Maisie Williams that she wore as a guest judge for Bookbarn International's Out of Print Fashion Show. She wore the dress a second time at the Entertainment Weekly party at San Diego Comic Con. The dress, called ZAM!, included pages from X-Men, Sandman, Sailor Moon, and Game of Thrones, and was, according to The Huffington Post, "the coolest thing at Comic Con."

Novelline collaborated on the children's book Piccadilly and the Fairy Polka contributing as the art director and illustrator of the book casing and dust jacket. He is also creating "a mini series of poseable fine art dolls with cubic zirconia eyes." His newest gown to be made from a sustainable material and themed around classic literature is scheduled for debut in 2014. In recognition of the Supreme Court's decision to recognize marriage equality in all 50 states, Novelline created a commemorative art doll from a recycled Barbie. Wearing a rainbow gown, it carries an American pride flag in one hand and a marriage license dated June 26, 2015 in the other.