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Fashion genius Ralph Rucci may soon be forced to hang it up.
The New York designer — whose stratospherically priced outfits are prized by super-rich socialites, as well as celebrities like Martha Stewart — is weighing the prospect of a Chapter 11 filing as his unpaid bills mount, sources told The Post.
Rucci — famous for the lavish fabrics and details in his dresses, which last year included hand-sorted ostrich feathers — held talks this month with a bankruptcy lawyer as he grapples with debts to suppliers and lenders totaling more than $6 million, according to a source close to the situation.
Rosina Rucci, the designer’s sister and head of communications for his Chado Ralph Rucci label, declined to comment yesterday and Rucci didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“When he’s paying his employees, he’s not paying his suppliers,” said one source close to the designer, noting that Rucci’s debts “easily exceed” his money-losing company’s annual revenue. “And when he’s paying the suppliers, he’s not paying the employees.”
Rucci’s liquidity crisis — made worse by a personal tax bill of nearly $1 million, according to two sources — has taken a heavy toll on his firm during the past two years.
In 2011, amid late rent payments, the designer was forced to downsize his 15,000-square-foot design studio in SoHo to about 5,000 square feet, sources said.
That’s despite the fact that Rucci, who just published a coffee-table book to celebrate his 30 years in the business, threw a dazzling New York runway show last spring that drew a rare standing ovation.
“He’s one of the most important designers today, and he’s really America’s greatest couturier,” said Catherine Moellering, executive vice president of the Tobe Report, a trend-forecasting group.
The sky-high costs of Rucci’s handmade couture, however, are catching up with him, with unpaid invoices to one fancy Italian fabric supplier totaling more than $500,000, according to one source close to the situation.
To make matters worse, Neiman Marcus — a key client that has helped keep him afloat by paying up-front for deliveries of his clothes — is “getting fed up” by Rucci’s lavish personal spending in the face of the liquidity crisis, according to a source.
“Ralph likes the fancy restaurants,” the source said.
This month, Rucci abruptly canceled a Feb. 12 runway show as he struggled to meet payroll for his skeleton-crew staff of about two dozen. While Rucci’s firm denied that money was the main reason for the scuttled show, insiders said otherwise.
“Delayed paychecks during the weeks leading up to Fashion Week have become kind of a ritual,” according to one source.
While insisting on only the finest fabrics and workmanship in his clothes, Rucci has displayed little interest in shoes and handbags, which have been far more lucrative for fashion firms in recent years.
Likewise, Rucci refuses to rent his outfits — which can sell for upwards of $25,000 — to celebrities for red-carpet events, insisting instead that they buy them.
“He doesn’t have a diffusion line or a fragrance deal — he doesn’t seem to be interested in the commercial side of this,” said Moellering. As a result, “a lot of people think ‘Rucci’ is spelling ‘Pucci’ wrong. It’s tragic, it’s terrible.”