The monumentality, vibrant color and artistic flair of Roksanda Ilinčić’s work has carved out its own special place in London fashion—and in the hearts and wardrobes of her impressive clients—over 20 years. All of the designer’s talents were on display at her anniversary show in the cavernous underground ballroom of the newly opened Chancery Rosewood hotel, recently converted from the landmark American embassy in Grosvenor Square.
The forcefully haunting sound of a woman singing acapella in Serbian filled the ballroom at the opening of this anniversary show. A woman in black strode out, wearing a one-shouldered belted top, voluminous duchesse satin pants and trailing a spiraling bundle of leather strips—that may or may not have been an abstract bag—under one arm. It made for a surprising opener, accompanied by a song that perhaps only Ilinčić’s compatriot Marina Abramović, sitting front row, and Ilinčić’s family members could fully understand. Nevertheless, it was obvious: Ilinčić was serving us something about her Serbian identity—while focussing the form of her clothes on the inspiration of someone quintessentially British: the work of the great sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth.
“I started with her, thinking about all those shapes she made. They were very nature- and landscape-inspired, with curves that I feel are very flattering for the body.” she Ilinčić. That observation seemed directly translated into the amoebic-shaped cutouts that appeared in bodices, though perhaps not much more. In any case, Ilinčić needs no excuse to explore 3D volume—she’s been pursuing it career-long, in conjunction with her exuberant explorations of texture and textiles.
Thus, after passages of oversized tailoring and trench coats in stony grays, there were suddenly outbursts of red, white and blue raffia, starting as a kind of boa, and ending up as boldly shaggy layers of tiered fringing around the skirts of dresses. There were plenty of examples of Ilinčić’s colorful narrow draped liquid satin dresses, a staple of her business to come.
But from a general fashion point of view, the most interesting looks were 16 and 27. Both were silhouettes that pushed towards pannier dresses, one in a more diaphanous chiffon, quite delicate and poetic in a burgundy print. The gray loopy fil coupe skirts of look 27 went much further, almost to the point of paralleling 18th-century panniers in a very modern way. There’s a Marie Antoinette exhibition that has just opened at the V A—could it be that?
Anyway, it’s a trend that’s popping up around fashion—but Ilinčić did it in a way that will appeal to her art-world friends. Frieze is coming up soon in London. It’ll be no surprise if we see those dresses being paraded at openings and dinners galore by then. That’s Roksanda’s heartland.
