Robert Liptak has departed his creative director role at Los Angeles brand RTA, WWD has learned.

The previous senior designer for ladies’s ready-to-wear at Tom Ford joined the brand in June 2022, with the goal of elevating it in fashion direction and workmanship.

“RTA was very dark and Gothic. I’m bringing more sexiness, playfulness and mystery,” said Liptak, who also held positions at Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello and Rick Owens.

Established in L.A. in 2013, RTA, which stands for Road to Awe, previously had a rock-‘n’-roll streetwear vibe, with a lot of leather, logos and crosses but not much character.

After launching its first womenswear line exclusively with Bergdorf Goodman, RTA expanded into menswear in 2017 and was named a finalist of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.

Throughout the pandemic, cofounder and chief executive officer David Rimokh took stock of his label and decided it was time to update.

“The pandemic hit us really hard as an organization, and it gave me the chance to self-reflect and see where the subsequent direction of RTA was going to go,” said Rimokh, who bought out his minority partner, Eli Azran, at the start of 2022. “I felt our aesthetic was sort of rooted prior to now and never evolved. I felt the rocker and the grunge look was being emulated out there.”

For his debut collection for pre-fall 2023, Liptak made a moody launch video, tapping a powerful team, including Ricardo Gomes to art-direct, Honey Dijon for sound design and Madonna’s stylist Rita Melssen for styling.

The brand shifted more sourcing from Asia to Europe, primarily Italy and Portugal, and raised prices by about 20 to 25 percent.

His collections, which were shown in Paris, were generally well reviewed. Of the lads’s resort 2024 collection, WWD wrote, “Robert Liptak continues to claim his latest vision as creative director of RTA, rolling out sportier oversize silhouettes and statement streetwear, constructing the label’s narrative and taking it to latest territories.”

The brand, which can proceed operations in line with sources, hosted events this spring at its Latest York store and the recently renovated L.A. store.

“We’re grateful for what Robert has dropped at RTA,” Rimokh told WWD. “As an L.A.-based brand, we’re going back to our roots specializing in statement streetwear and novelty denim, while still keeping our sexy DNA.”