In a dramatic bow to her inspiration—an architect’s tiny home in the south of France—Roksanda Ilinčić had guests hooked at her show at Tate Britain
Earlier this month, Zendaya stepped out at a Dune: Part Two photo call in London in a mulberry-hued, masterfully tailored three-piece: coat, midi and trousers. The designer was London-based Roksanda Ilinčić, of Roksanda, but what readers may not have realised was this piece had not even hit the runway yet. Yes, before the Mugler metal robot suit, there was the “before the runway” moment, as Zendaya’s “image architect” Law Roach noted.
On February 17, Zendaya’s look opened Roksanda’s Autumn/Winter 2024 show at Tate Britain—an uncommon move for many designers who rarely show pieces of new offerings pre show date.
“It’s really interesting for the fashion world because obviously everything is kept secret and we wait for a big reveal on the day of the show, but I don’t think that anything can eclipse Zendaya wearing it—it was a very special moment,” says Ilinčić, who also recently received an MBE from Princess Anne for her services to fashion.
Inspired by her travels to Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier’s 12-square-foot holiday cabin in the south of France, Ilinčić produced her Autumn/Winter 2024 spectacle: a series of dramatic gowns and juxtaposing textures which nodded to the monstrous murals Corbusier had hung in its tiny entrance way. There were long skirts, longer trenches, and sculptural bustier dresses with exposed zippers that completely cocooned the body. Some seams were left rough—perhaps an effort to portray that undone-ness of the tiny dwelling on the Cotê d’Azur. The pièce de résistance, however, was a huge, show-stopping fringed cape. Four-and-a-half metres of colourful fabric were employed and it took Roksanda’s atelier 200-hours to make the dramatic piece.
“Sometimes people ask why certain pieces cost this much,” she said in an interview. “There is a very thin line between art and fashion; when we weave in more of the art process, that comes with a price. We don’t want AI—nothing can replace the hand and the heart, I would say.”
Nor could anything replace the value of Zendaya’s AW24 prelude.
See highlights from Roksanda’s Autumn/Winter 2024 show below.
