This season, Roksanda Ilincic decided not to have a show, “but it comes with exciting news,” she said, “and that is that I’m opening a popup in Sloane Street. Next to Chanel and Pucci. It’s amazing. And the space is huge.” I went to see her in a light-filled penthouse showroom next to the storied Museum of the Home, (set in a series of restored 18th century almshouses) on the Kingsland Road in the East End of London.
Roksanda Ilincic doesn’t just make clothes—she builds them. Big, sculptural, sometimes unwieldy things that feel like they belong in a gallery just as much as they do on a body. Think swooping drapes, ballooning proportions, sharp angles where you least expect them, and an absolutely wild approach to texture. She’s been at this for a while now, and every season, she adds another layer to the architectural playground that is her work.
In 1982, Agnes Denes made headlines by planting a wheat field in downtown Manhattan. The image of her standing among the wheat, with skyscrapers towering behind her, still carries a powerful message. "Her work speaks to the industrialization and obsession with wealth, Wall Street’s dominance, and how everything seemed to be moving in one direction," Ilincic said before her show.
