The Collars of RBG

A Portrait of Justice, By Elinor Carucci and Sara Bader

A striking portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her historic tenure on the United States Supreme Court, brought to life with incisive quotes and bold photographs of her iconic collars.

“The Collars of RBG” Copyright © 2023 by Elinor Carucci and Sara Bader. Photographs copyright © 2023 by Elinor Carucci. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.”

The collar is a powerful point of entry for exploring Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life and her tireless work on America’s highest court. The twenty-five neckpieces captured here—in over eighty stunning photographs by award-winning photographer Elinor Carucci—offer insight into RBG’s legacy. Her incisive writing, a linchpin of her notorious dissents, is celebrated throughout, with quotes and back stories to support each collar. The bold, ornate, and subversive neckpieces she chose to wear on the bench communicated so much more.

Shortly after RBG’s passing in September 2020, Carucci was commissioned by Time magazine for a commemorative piece on the late justice, focused on the stories behind her legendary collars. Here, Carucci and coauthor Sara Bader use each collar to highlight a defining career moment, from RBG’s earliest argument for gender equality to her support of immigration and marriage equality throughout her twenty-seven years on the bench. Some of her collars are well-known, like her dissent collar, or her favorite white beaded neckpiece that she wore for important portraits. Other collars are less familiar but tell poignant stories of artists, colleagues, friends, and fans whose gifts to Justice Ginsburg found meaning in her hands.

Justice Ginsburg wore this large, decorative collar on the bench before the pandemic. This type of scalloped-lace collar is reminiscent of styles worn by women in the nineteenth century, when needle arts were practiced by young girls and women. The honeycomb-net ground is embellished with delicate flowers and leaves; dotted bands echo the scalloped design, and a triple row of edgings defines the neckline.

Small in stature but towering in influence, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was described as a titan, a civil rights hero, and most poetically, by her colleague Justice Stephen Breyer, “a rock of righteousness.” The Collars of RBG is an artful collection of moments from this warrior’s legacy, crystallizing the many ways RBG reshaped the cultural landscape for us all. Pete Souza, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Obama: An Intimate Portrait, describes it best, “RBG was unlike any other. So is this visual tribute to her.”

page 77 PEGASUS — This limited-edition “Pegasus Necklace,” made in India for the accessories company Stella & Dot, is fashioned out of pointed gold fathers and hand sewn onto silk organza. It was given to the justice by a fan, Los Angeles-based lawyer Susan Hyman.

page 109 PRIDE — Jill Morrison, executive director of the Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellowship Program and the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa Program at Georgetown University Law Center, gifted this netted, beaded collar to Justice Ginsburg.

page 118 WEDDINGS — A colleague gave Justice Ginsburg this collar as a token of appreciation for officiating their wedding in 2017. That RBG found the time to officiate so many wedding ceremonies over the years is an example of how masterfully she harnessed her busy schedule, generously devoting time off the bench to attend these and otehr meaningful occasions of family, friends, colleagues, and former students and clients.

page 132 FAVORITE — This white beaded collar from Cape Town, South Africa, was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s favorite.

page 173 ELEGANT — Few details are known about this collar. RBG received it before the pandemic, in either late 2019 or early 2020. She described it simppy as “elegant.”

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Elinor Carucci is an award-winning fine art photographer whose work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions worldwide and The New York Times Magazine, New Yorker, Time, W, Aperture, and ARTnews, among other publications. Carucci’s photographs are also included in prestigious museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum, in New York City, and the Houston Museum of Fine Art, among others.

Sara-Bader-photograph-credit-John-Dolan — Sara Bader (c) John Dolan

Sara Bader has worked as an acquisitions editor for Princeton Architectural Press and a senior editor for Phaidon. In addition to editing visual culture books, she has conceived and researched several quotation compilations, including Art Is the Highest Form of Hope and Every Day a Word Surprises Me. She is also the founder of Quotenik, a growing library of verified quotations, and the author of the collection The Book of Pet Love & Loss: Words of Comfort & Wisdom from Remarkable People.

THE COLLARS OF RBG by Elinor Carucci and Sara Bader | Clarkson Potter |ISBN: 9780593580783| $30

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