
Roksanda Ilincic is marking the 20th anniversary of her brand, which has become synonymous with sculptural shapes and saturated color. She chose a venue to match the moment – the cavernous ballroom of the new Chancery Rosewood hotel, which opened earlier this month in the 1960’s building that once housed the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square.
She looked back to some of her greatest hits – the spare dresses with big bell sleeves that launched a host of knockoffs; the long, silky shirt dresses, and the draped eveningwear in sour candy colors. As always, Ilincic tapped into the work of female artists, and this season she chose the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, known for her smooth-edged organic sculptures, curvy cutouts and pebble shapes.
The collection was a busy one, with lots of long, swinging fringes and straps dangling from jackets and dresses, and spiky tufts of colorful raffia sprouting from necks and hemlines. A pencil-thin black dress had a ruff-like raffia detail at the neck and on the skirt, while wide-shoulder jackets and trenches came with long, thick fringe that swooshed around models’ legs as they walked.
Those details were a distraction, and it was the simpler silhouettes that shone the brightest under the ballroom’s massive crystal chandeliers. It was hard to resist the two-tone bell-sleeve dresses re-done this season with lightweight, laser-cut fabric and the voluminous, cobalt blue hooded cape made from featherweight taffeta – one of Ilincic’s favorite fabrics.
“You can hear it move, like paper rustling,” said the designer.
The slim, black cutout gowns with bright pops of color spoke volumes with their simplicity, and should be the ones leading this brand into its next chapter in business.
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