Ripinsky Jaclausov

Born in the lobby in the POLYARNYE ZORI Hotel, in Murmansk Russia

Ripinsky Jaclausov fell upon a world of divinity and grandeur. 

While most newborns first glimpse of life is a hospital room, 

this small boy was thrust into a world of lavishly decorated halls, 

high ceilings flanked with gold crown moldings and tapestries depicting 

a world of pious virtue.

This awkward birth, this sudden gasp of air did not come as a surprise 

to the infants’ parents, Michlavak and Yurnatilda, who were well aware 

of the date the water would break. Instead of waiting impatiently for the 

moment to arrive, the couple decided to waste the afternoon away, sipping 

gimlets and enjoying the fine Russian pastries of the local vendors. 

It happened while they were paying a visit to Bramstovski Spirits, 

Michlavak and the shop owner Bramstovski were deep into a comedic 

conversation about governmental politics, under their breathe of course 

as Yurnatilda felt a push, and then another . . . and then a kicked. She 

grabbed Michlavak by the arm and said, “Я нахожусь в рабочей 

силе теперь!”, or “ I am

in labor now!”  

Fearing the attention of locals and authorities Bramstovski would not 

allow the act to take place on his shop floor, so he quickly pointed them 

to the grand Polyarnye Hotel across the дорога. Michlavak gracefully 

lifted his wife from the ground and rushed her into the foyer of the building 

and so while the clerk was sent to gather pillows and blankets Ripinsky 

Jaclausov was born.

At a ripe early age 4 Rip discovered ways to elaborate the garments that 

his Mother would so carefully pick out from the cities thrift market. 

Clothes were very hard to come by in those days, and one would often find 

himself wearing the same pants he’d seen another boy wearing a year prior. 

To the unimaginative eye, the clothes appeared satisfactory and clean, 

but to rip he saw old desperate rags in need of improvement. At age 11, 

Rip was deeply immersed in the decision making of what particular garments 

where suitable for his family, and for his vision. His fathers’ shoe shop 

had always been a successful venture and when Rip turned 14 he requested the 

permission of his father to occupy a small corner in the shop window. 

A small rack of his designs were displayed neatly in the window of the 

Jaclausov Shoe Shop.  Passers by would stop and gaze, with aspirations 

of wearing such a fantastic outfits. Michlavak would notice these people 

and would invite them in to his shop so that the spectators could touch 

and feel and even try them on.

The things people would say about the clothing filled Michlavak with 

pride and so for Rips’ 15th birthday, Michlavak contracted a small 

sign to be made, which said,

“Проекты Ориджинала знаменитым

проектировщиком

Oдежда проектировщика” 

or [Original Designs by famed designer Ripinsky Jaclausov - Affordable designer clothes]

the sales were good and shoppers rushed to the store every weekend to

witness and inspect what new creations Jaclausov had to offer.

Murmansk, Russia, the largest city in the world north of the Arctic 

Circle is an important port with an ice-free harbor. This brings in 

very diverse traffic at all seasons of the year. Buyers and sailors 

alike would enter the city ports for trading and marketing.

Rip was fascinated by the hustle and bustle of the docks. He would 

spend hours out there, sketching in his notebook and dreaming of the day when his 

designs would be packed and loaded onto these stout ships, by the very men he 

spied with great admiration.

Then one day, while paying a visit to the Harbor Captain whom proudly wore 

a Jaclausov Сикоат [coat], Rip mentioned the flawless precision with 

which the docks operated and how it affected his thoughts and ideas. The 

Captain began to describe a place where an entire city operated with the 

same amount of precise timing, flawless and unique. Rip couldn’t believe 

that such a place existed and scuffed at the fable, until the Captain said 

the words

Нью-Йорк.

Rip knew the name, and had heard of such a place, his father had traveled to 

fabulous city before the war. His mind ran wild with fantasies of his father 

in such a great place. He ran home tom probe his father for information and 

stories of the faraway place, for this is where Rip wanted to be, and port 

town and city that never sleeps.

Within three days of that conversation Rip as aboard a Kabahrovsk crafted 

cargo ship bound for US waters. It would take the vessel three weeks to arrive. 

Enough time for Rip, to master a new line of designs surely to catch the 

eyes of Americans and Europeans alike.

In New York he found refuge in a department store loading dock, where he 

built a small hut out of cardboard and shipping wire. Tucked neatly behind 

some shrubs at the base of the loading ramp, Rip slept comfortably in the 

cool spring afternoons and paraded through the city at night, entering into 

the various clubs and parties stuff with black clad solemn artsy types 

milling about waiting for something to happen. And then it did, Rip met 

a popular but unappreciated designer named Jackson Prickle. Jackson just 

loved Rip, and eagerly introduced him to his fellow designer friends and 

companions. Ripinsky was raised well, and did not flaunt his talent rather 

he let the people he would meet find out in their due time. And how quickly 

the New York underground caught on.

Soon Rip was showing his designs at small boutique on the Upper East Side. 

And then the Macys Corp. invited him into their window for passers by to 

gaze and as they did in the days on Murmansk, eye filled with desire, 

dreaming of the texture of the fabrics, wondering what it would be like to 

wear a Jaclausov wardrobe, and the sighing as they continue down the street 

and away from the fantasy.