Since making a decision to slow things down last year, compacting her pre-collections into her main spring and fall offerings, designer Alejandra Alonso Rojas is pushing forward with a more intentional approach to design. On her mood board were nature’s take on the eternal theme with butterflies, lots of color and a few muses: Tina Chow and Audrey Hepburn
“I really wanted to push myself creatively. Sometimes less is more. So I decided as part of my inspiration for the season to limit myself,” she explained of her fall collection, calling it her metamorphosis, showing in her studio, a way to truly highlight her world view.
First things first, she looked at her fabrics and focused on eliminating waste, creating more than 60 percent of the collection from fabrics she had on hand, zeroing in on sustainability with purpose. She breathed new life into them by dyeing them and pleating them in the style of Mariano Fortuny, her version of taking a caterpillar to a butterfly. And she did the pleating by hand — in her kitchen.
The rebirth came across a mostly satin eveningwear lineup, all using previous patterns, another nod to the theme. Bustier dresses with pleated skirts, precise architectural draping on a strapless column gown, a sleeveless dress with a fitted bodice and flared skirt were seen across a saturated color palette of gold, olive, carnation red, primrose, bordeaux, ultramarine blue and black, with touches of sand, like in a standout satin trench and in wide-leg trousers with a jacket. Evening is her sweet spot and she leans in, full of her Spanish joyful embellishments like hand-done floral appliqué on a bust or handmade fringes from Andalusia at the base of a dress.
A point of difference, though, is that she offers a customer something not readily found in the market with evening separates: shell and cowl neck tops, satin skirts and shrugs. She understands that her customer wants to look fantastic, but also keenly in tune with what parts of the body they might want to conceal or display.
She wanted it all to feel “effortless, and it’s all about how it falls on the body of the woman. That’s my main focal point,” she said. And effortless with care it was.
