Braiding the line: Roksanda threads daywear into drama
For spring/summer 2027, Roksanda Ilinčić looked to Françoise Grossen’s monumental braid-work to pull daywear and drama into the same language. Anders Christian Madsen reviews the show.
“Guys, did you get a suntan?” Roksanda Ilinčić asked the congregated press as we gathered around her post-show. She presented her collection on the roof of the National Theatre bathed in the late-afternoon September sun. The light underlined the warmth of a sensual and organic proposal inspired by the braid-work of the Swiss-American artist Françoise Grossen, whose monumental fibre sculptures transform knotting, plaiting and twisting into something imposing. In that symbiosis was an obvious affinity with Ilinčić, whose own work has always enlarged traditionally feminine gestures, giving them architectural weight.
The collection absorbed Grossen’s constructions. Braids loosely cinched blazers at the back, travelled down silk dresses like spines and escaped from garments in loose strands. It was a beautiful way of adding intrigue to what Ilinčić said was a new focus on daywear, which also materialised in studies of how scarves could transform into garments. As the show progressed, Ilinčić let loose in the figurative way, too, expanding her braid-imbued silhouettes into great unravelling gowns. Two croc-embossed vinyl pannier dresses closed the show, reassuring Ilinčić’s eveningwear clientele that her show-stopping volumes aren’t going anywhere.
“The dresses got bigger and bigger. I was trying to replicate the monumental element of her work,” she said, with a smile. “I love drama, I love shape, I love sculpture. I can’t help myself when it comes to big and grandiose shapes!” If this season marked a broader push into the everyday wardrobe for Roksanda, it did so without diluting the instinct that has always made her work recognisable. The clothes may be getting more practical, but the woman who wears them still takes up space.
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