Roksanda rocks!

Roksanda Ilincic is wearing a gown. A floral-printed, silk-georgette gown with balloon sleeves, a grosgrain belt and a skirt that cascades in three-tiered bands to the floor.

It’s not a ballgown, nor an evening gown, but in most wardrobes it would definitely qualify as a gown, and therefore not the sort of thing that screams workwear. Yet the way Roksanda wears it — with flat sandals and no evident make-up other than her signature bright-red lip — the effect is casual. Easy. As if a floor-length gown is an obvious item to slip into for the office, and who would dare think otherwise?

“I think it’s good to show women that they can wear this kind of item to work,” Roksanda says, and then adjusts. “But to be honest, this close to London Fashion Week, if I didn’t have this photo shoot, I probably would have worn culottes or something I can move faster in.”

Welcome to Roksandaland, where £1,795 dresses quickly come to seem like viable options for effortless dressing, thanks to their ladylike shapes but unexpected colour combinations. Roksanda, 39, is the London fashion designer who, more than any other since launching her line in 2005, has shown that it’s possible to dress in a manner that’s powerful, modern, feminine and unforced, all at once.

Sense & sensuality 

“I’ve always championed femininity and never been afraid of it,” she says. “My vision is of a woman who doesn’t show too much skin, but at the same time is sensual, and feminine.”

That’s perhaps why Roksanda has now become the wardrober of choice for first ladies, actual and aspiring. Her roll call of clients includes Michelle Obama (who first wore Roksanda during a state visit to the UK in 2011), the Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William said that one yellow dress made his wife look like a banana, a description Roksanda says she enjoyed) and Samantha Cameron. The latter wore a colour-blocked, zip-front midi dress from Roksanda as her family departed 10 Downing Street in July.

“For me, it was a touching and proud moment to see Samantha choosing to wear my dress in that moment that was so important for her whole family,” Roksanda says. Elaborating on why her line so appeals to women in the public eye, Roksanda says, “I design dresses that offer an element of feeling powerful… but at the same time of having some sort of protection.”

Dressing up celebs

The Roksanda power-dressing formula can be broken down to three key components: shape, colour, sleeves. Her pieces tend to be modestly cut, with higher-than-average necklines and lower hemlines.

Roksanda’s designs, with their zingy colours and prints on vintage-inspired cuts, enliven and update the very idea of power dressing.

Part of the appeal is the designer herself. Anyone who has seen Roksanda rustling around a busy backstage looking like she could sub in for one of the models can see that she is her brand’s best mascot. Along with gowns as daywear, she can make maxi skirts modern (just add a T-shirt), and her approach to trans-seasonal dressing is pretty compelling: I can’t be the only person working in fashion to have bought a Wolford polo-neck bodysuit after clocking the way Ilincic wears hers to winterise sleeveless dresses. “I like to find the right balance between things that are really aesthetically exciting and new, but also at the same time relevant to our lifestyles and what we need,” she says. “It’s just an extension of who I am.”

Born in Serbia, Roksanda grew up watching her mother get dressed. She changed the buttons and added bright topstitching to her own school uniform “to bring a little more personality”. Later, she pursued two courses of study: in architecture and applied arts and design, which included fashion. “Fashion definitely took priority,” she says, although the detailed interiors of her dresses, evidence of an architect’s understanding of form, must be a vestige of this time.

She moved to London to join the MA programme at Central Saint Martins under legendary professor Louise Wilson. “One thing that she managed to teach us is that we should all try to find our own voices and bring something new to fashion,” she says. “She also taught us, me in particular, not to follow any rules, but to try to do something that feels right for your personality.” She did this by designing a “very, very tiny” collection of dresses, joining the official London Fashion Week schedule and showing full collections from 2005.

Roksanda says she’s not interested in reinventing herself every season, and there’s a remarkable consistency from 2005 to today. The colour fluency is there from the beginning — she has a way of making sense out of pairings that could seem extreme in other hands. At her autumn/winter 2016 show, the long dresses in pleated silk-satin brought together copper, navy and merlot, with touches of powdery pinks and blues. She designed the collection after celebrating her first 10 years in business, so it was a reflection on her first decade as well as the start of her second. “It was a matter of having the time to think again and to reflect on everything I did before and take it to a completely new level.”

That “new level” includes multiple lines (children’s wear, jewellery, shoes, handbags), a David Adjaye-designed store on Mount Street in Mayfair, and a CEO, Carmela Acampora. At her London Fashion Week show, she introduced sunglasses and explored a new way of colour-blocking through layering. “But it’s all up in the air until the last minute,” she says modestly.

Her show last season fell on a school day, so Roksanda invited her daughter, Efimia, now six years old, and her entire class to attend. “They were so excited but obviously didn’t know what to expect. After the show we did a run-through and they all did a little modelling on the catwalk. It was the highlight of their month.” Or, for the chic citizens of Roksandaland, just another dreamy Monday at the office.