ROKSANDA FALL WINTER 2019 WOMEN’S COLLECTION – LONDON FASHION WEEK

For Autumn Winter 2019, Roksanda commissions a bespoke installation to cement her long term relationship with art collective Troika. An alternate reality for the their sculpture ‘Borrowed Light’, both Troika’s innovative space and Roksanda’s clothes appear to address obvious subject matter; colour, volume, texture, movement. However, each explores a deeper narrative, one centred around the concept of perception and duality, indivisible entities and experiences.

Inspiration infiltrates too from architecture, this time from Paul Rudolph’s brutalist masses of textured concrete and car park tower trellis’. With this exploration of tension and perception Roksanda tells her story yet again through the beauty of opposites; strength and softness, beauty and shelter, for an intricate yet booming recalibration of femininity.

This season, tailoring is a tactile combination of wool and cashmere blends, rich ochre quilting and matlassé cut into long and languid coats, slashed strictly at the sides to reveal saturated linings. Relaxed melange jersey appears in luxurious day dressing, including draped buttonless jackets closed simply with fine leather belts that wrap twice around the waist.

Utalitarian outerwear is spliced and colour blocked, combining wools, compact taffeta and cotton, partially quilted, while contrasting zips and metal snaps reveal hidden layers. Quilting plays an important part in the collections blueprints; padded scarves are colour blocked and printed, creating a voluminous yet softer accent to the neat tailored jackets which sit layered beneath.

Dramatic, feminine yet powerful dress silhouettes in richly coloured taffetta’s; heliotrope, tobacco and ochre are used to play on the perception of volume and sculpture. At the other end of Roksanda’s infinite spectrum, pleated silk bias cuts are rendered closer to the body, detailed with loose and softly tied satin bows. Carefully crafted details include tucked and frilled hems, velvet bows and Pierrot collars.

Roksanda’s graphic interpretations of hard concrete structures are either layered with soft projections of her own delicate dancer, or scaled up to create a bold and confident counterpart. Optic white taffeta enhances crisp primary colours is layered with an ultra-light air organza layer to create a soft fluidity. A luxurious oyster duchess base is flip reversed to reveal a hidden yet highly saturated version, while transparent yarns are woven to reflect light and give the perception of pure liquidity. Just as Troika’s colourful strips present themselves on photographic film, Roksanda’s overlap technique mimics a lense out-of-focus, reality blurred, but revealing a life in full yet transparent technicolor.

Heavy as a building block, light as a feather. Embroidery features micro cut beads and organza shapes, crafted around feather print motifs, all pale dyed and organically placed. Dramatic and dreamy, hand dyed ostrich feathers are gathered, trapped in mounds on shoulders, collars and cuffs. They disperse with movement across their garments, blown apart by kinetic air onto earrings and jewellery. Elsewhere, industrial metal tubes are bent into miniature sculptures, hand finished with enamel paint to create additional building blocks; bracelets and necklaces.

Modernist details and craftsmanship continue in Roksanda’s bag range as the new season introduces the ‘Flat bag’ in Peony, Desert Sand, Tobacco, Porcelain and Navy. Roksanda’s cubist ‘box bag’ appears too in Navy, Mikado and Heliotrope.

Shoes in collaboration with Malone Souliers are inspired by a 70’s aesthetic; rubberised leather boots with soft satin legs in cinnamon, tobacco and oyster. Loafers with hand stitched seam details appear in nappa and suede, while bright primary blue, black and navy satin evening slippers are adorned with delicate bows.

Colours

Heliotrope, Porcelain, Mikado, Cloud, Lemonade, Cipria, Vermillion, Lime, Pear, Sage, Spearmint, Spruce, Aegean, Tobacco, Orchid, Cinnamon, Rosewood, Ebony, Midnight, Oyster, Azalea, Tumeric

Fabrics

Mattelassé Coating, Wool Alpaca Coating, Technical Duchess, Zibeline Wool Coating, Wool Mouline Jersey, Wool Cashmere Coating, Silk Satins, Silk Twill Organzas, Taffeta.