designer
roksanda aw21
Words By: Katie Farley
When faced with exhibiting a collection during a global pandemic, one does the best they can with whatever resources they have. Albeit for designer Roksanda Ilincic, her best materialized as nothing short of ridiculously good. For her Autumn Winter 2021 ready-to-wear collection entitled 'Friday in February', Roksanda celebrated the leitmotif of family and the human touch to life, illustrated throughout an incredibly cherished, whimsical, and poignant depiction that documented three generations of inspiring females.
Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson, and Daisy Bevan, talents who possess inimitable and honorable qualities, were featured in a short film and campaign situated in their countryside residence during the lockdown. Viewers are privileged to witness their goings-on, which is encapsulated genuinely and affectionately throughout one day in February. The campaign was illuminated onto a variety of buildings favored by Roksanda across London during LFW.
Due to all the national lockdown restrictions, the narrative was filmed on an iPhone seen in an artistic partnership between Roksanda, the duo of wonder women, and female director and photographer Linda Brownlee. Together, they collectively created a series of sensitive and transitory moments revealed through an outstanding feminine lens.
Little instances are captured: from rejoicing in the subtle, speckled light of morning to sauntering through their countryside landscape, amusing themselves over a game of cards, to quietly reciting Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, tranquilly imagining the delicacy of life and the meaning of love throughout our existence. Moments of stillness and softness are openly illustrated in these women's every day. Amid this fashion tale, a family not too dissimilar to those we know are all apart of with the familiar giggles and touches, the intended looks and scowls, the same friendship and love, ultimately, the happiness and intimacy.
Through their senses, we are welcomed to be united by undergoing similar authentic human sentiments. We are amalgamated in the shared security and splendor discovered in the ordinary, making us forever tighter as one in these extraordinary, nevertheless instructing periods.
Amid the Autumn Winter 2021 collection, the color palette and structures arrive luxuriantly distinct, with a celebration of strength and positivity, echoed in this season's significant sartorial forms and outlines.
Extracting references from the label's incredibly imaginative legacy, dresses come dexterously erected out of silk scarves adorned with hand-painted details, playing on the paintings Roksanda creates in her studio in London. Bold figures of female nudes are printed against stunning silk twill dresses in ivory and sunflower, projecting the idea of femininity and empowerment. Unique and super glossy leather looks are featured in standout summer dresses, and hammered silk satins in honeycomb and vermillion deliver depth and prosperity.
Silhouettes arrive voluminous and billowing in fabrics that include moiré taffeta and silk organza and feature vibrant bursts of painted brushstrokes. Delicate pin tucks make for bulging shapes in sleeves and ruffle necklines that tumble down fluorescent orange jumpsuits with wide legs, conveying the effect of contemporary structures protecting and cocooning the woman.
Additional key styles throughout the collection include powerful tailoring, slashed waists, color blocking, modular sleeves, and dramatic draping. Working in complete proportion, understated and womanly details encompass the collection with the enclosure of wool ribbon clasps intertwined in and out of abstract buttonholes, elegant neckties, and swathed bespoke textiles. Handcrafted elements are finely integrated into the fashion line, emphasizing cotton outlines that have collectively been ethically manufactured.
This breathtakingly beautiful collection of women and clothing ultimately proves that nothing can prevent Roksanda from doing what she does best.