Anyone searching for the opposite of joggers, hoodies and all that other dreary garb they’ve over-worn in recent times will find their antithesis in Roksanda IlinÄiÄ.
The Serbian-born, east London-based designer has long been a favourite with celebrities keen to stand out on the red carpet, Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley among them. She is also the go-to for smart, impactful day dresses: just ask Michelle Obama, the Duchess of Cambridge or Samantha Cameron. “My girls,” she smiles fondly, when I mention her roster of famous fans. “I call them my girls, because it’s not just dressing people for the sake of it. All my relationships happen naturally, with like-minded people who have the same love for beauty and craft. I’ve been very fortunate with who’s worn me.”
IlinÄiÄ is known for her use of colour, but as she talks me through the new collection hanging in her studio, each hue seems to thrum with extra energy. Up close, the details are immaculate; every stitch, drape and fold executed with meticulous care. But if the details are precise, the clothes themselves are otherworldly. “I always like to create some sort of escapism, but also have my feet on the ground,” she says, stroking a quilted pink sleeve. “Everything has to be relevant to real life.”
This question — what is relevant now? — is one she’s been asking herself repeatedly. “Where are we right now? I came to the conclusion that to make the collection more relevant meant getting away from reality a little: to dream big, and create beautiful shapes that might not have occasion to be worn immediately.” Such as her cloud dress, whose exaggerated silhouette is destined to make an impact when it débuts on the catwalk at Tate Britain on Monday.
IlinÄiÄ moved to London in the Nineties, graduating with an MA in womenswear from Central Saint Martins in 1999 and launching her first collection at London Fashion Week in 2005. “London is a city that really welcomed me with open arms. It represents global freedom and creativity. I felt those two forces many decades ago, when I was still studying back home in Serbia. London was always at the forefront of new ideas and creative expression. It encourages you to be yourself.”
Before London, she studied architecture at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade, which explains why, rather than sketching in 2-D, she prefers to design on mannequins, draping fabric experimentally until she achieves the desired result. “It was a really creative process, and I still love how fabric feels to the touch.”
Her fabrics are developed in Italy, with taffeta a firm favourite, thanks to its sculptural qualities. That the colours are red carpet and Instagram-friendly is a bonus. “Thank you for saying that,” she smiles, when I compare her sense of colour to Christian Lacroix. “He and Yves Saint Laurent are my idols. Like them, I come from the Mediterranean, where the sun and light give incredible intensity to the nature around you.”
Britons haven’t always embraced colour, of course, and she remembers when this was a tough sell. “When I started designing, colour wasn’t popular at all. It was seen as something student-y and experimental. Certainly not sophisticated or something that a serious, elegant woman would wear. I thought that was a mistake and saw an opportunity to change that opinion, and present a type of beauty that does use colour as one of the primary tools of expression. I’m very glad that I was too stubborn to give up, but the journey wasn’t easy.”
One fan who embraces IlinÄiÄ’s colour palette with gusto is the Duchess of Cambridge, who has a particular fondness for her daffodil yellow dress, worn several times. How does she think Kate’s style will evolve now that she’s turned 40? “She knows exactly who she is. I would not like to foresee how she is going to dress, because that’s entirely up to her. That’s the beauty of her personality, that she’s the one making those calls.”
Today, IlinÄiÄ is wearing a colourful silk scarf draped insouciantly round her neck in a manner that would make me look ridiculous, but on her, looks sickeningly chic. Her grey herringbone suit and black suede Nike Air Force One trainers are, she says, her work uniform.
Even in the height of lockdown, I can’t imagine her wearing a hoodie. “Definitely not,” she agrees. “Either a suit, or one of my dresses. Something that in the morning, you don’t need much time to think about. So many things have changed, not just in terms of my personal style, but in the way that we live. I was a person who always wore high heels and wanted to be even taller than I am,” she smiles. “Now, I don’t remember the last time I wore heels.”
Besides, her 11-year-old daughter, Efimia, keeps her on her toes. “She’s opinionated! She comes to the studio at weekends. When she was little, juggling fashion and motherhood was extremely challenging, but now she’s at an age where she can understand and appreciate what I’m doing.” She and her classmates will be guests at Monday’s show.
It’s no longer the case that if you don’t have a show there’s something’s wrong with your brand
While the pandemic was tough, she tries to see the positives. “All designers went through a similar thing of one week talking about branching out and expanding, and then the next week wondering if they’re still going to be here. What’s interesting is how certain lessons were learned. For example, the opportunity to present your collection in any way you want. Now, it’s not a must to have a show. It’s no longer the case that if you don’t, something’s wrong with your brand. The possibilities are much bigger and audiences are much more open to seeing different things at different times. There’s much greater diversity on the catwalk, and off the catwalk as well. I hope they’re not just going to be passing fads. The lessons we learned are not to be forgotten.”
After a two-year hiatus, she’s more excited to stage a fashion show than ever, not least because of the location. Tate Britain chimes with her love of art. In a first for a designer at London Fashion Week, she has partnered with the Institute of Digital Fashion and Clearpay to enter the Metaverse by creating an NFT of one of her sculptural gowns.
Purchasable in pounds instead of crypto currencies, digital renderings of the gown will be sold in a three-tier system, with prices starting at £25 for a 3D render and rising to £5,000 for a software file that will allow the owner to wear the gown in the Metaverse. “[The Metaverse] existed before coronavirus, but the pandemic hastened the idea that it will become our reality. It’s exciting to dip into something that is the future and be a little bit ahead of the game.”
As for those of us struggling with our fashion mojo in the real world, IlinÄiÄ has the following advice. “Don’t be afraid or unsure of who you are. Let your personality shine. Don’t follow rules, because these days, there are no rules to follow. What is beautiful right now is that people are much easier, much softer, much more open-minded. Just be yourself.”
And get shopping. “We’ve been so deprived of reasons and occasions to shop that now is the right time to indulge. Sometimes after hard things, the most wonderful things happen. This is the time for those wonderful things: creativity, positivity, freedom and happiness.”
