The designer eschewed her usual sculpted silhouettes in favor of looser, more liquid ones, and like many of her fellow London designers, she was inspired by real women — and the imperfections of the pre-Instagram age.
“We live in a time when we’re overexposed to imagery, overexposed to something that is perfect, or not from a real life. I kind of wanted to come back to that rawness, when things were done by hand, when dresses were made out of linen with big sleeves that women were making and decorating themselves,” said the designer, who also worked with raw silk.
The highlights of this collection were the simplest, most spare looks: The white dress that opened the show, with its fat utilitarian buttons down the front, and fringing on the skirt; the long café au lait dress with its gathered fabric, and the minimal trouser suits — in cornflower or watery gray — tied with rope belts.
The more embellished looks were cluttered and overly arty — as if they’d been plucked from an installation at Roksanda’s Serpentine Gallery show venue. The blouses with their big ballooning sleeves — some done in ticking, others covered in an exploded flower print — the long dresses with swirls of long fringe and the floor-skimming tulle overlays embellished with fat 3-D flowers were too much.
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A word about the extralong, dripping silk sleeves that swooshed on dresses and blouses throughout this collection — they were fabulous. Roksanda is the master of the statement sleeve and she didn’t disappoint. Just don’t expect to eat your tomato soup wearing them.