zandra rhodes

Zandra Rhodes Has Collection You’ll Love to Wear

British designer's portfolio includes Princess Diana, Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Helen Mirren

Michelle Roe Fashion Week El Paseo, Watch & Listen - Fashion Week

zandra rhodes

With more than five decades of designing fabulous fashion, textiles and fabrics, British designer, Dame Zandra Rhodes is jumping over the pond to share her classic signature styles and latest collection on April 8 at Saxony Fashion Week El Paseo in Palm Desert.  

“I can’t wait to come to Palm Desert,” she says. “I’m excited to go into Fashion Week with a new younger group of things. (The collection) is young, feminine, super relaxed resort wear that can go from afternoon to evening. Also, we have one-of-a-kind visors. Perfect for the sun in Palm Desert.”

Zandra Rhodes designs.

Design Perspective

“I think that the clothes have got to make one feel wonderful and not necessarily mean that your figure has got to be perfect. Clothing should reveal the best bits of you that you love. I’m trying to produce designs that we’d love to wear.”

Rhode’s says that her latest collection will include  “lovely silk trousers and fabrics with gorgeous pink banana leaf on white, bright orange iridescent landscape with wiggly lines, and fantastic cobalt blue with lines stitched in white.  We are very proud (to present) this totally new line handcrafted in Malaysia. The original textiles were designed and hand painted in London and then sent to Malaysia to further carry out the painting.”

 

Inspiration

“I’ve always drawn inspiration from travel and being with my friends.  Nature. A wonderful landscape. It’s never from a fashion direction… it’s other things that are adapted to fit into fashion.”

Rhodes has dressed and charmed some of the most celebrated international personalities including celebrities, musicians and royalty such as Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Taylor, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Helen Mirren, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Her signature use of bold colors, patterns, and prints in her garments have created timeless, yet, stunning statements on the red carpet, at awards shows, and on runways throughout the world.   

 

Favorite “Career” Piece 

“It’s funny you should ask that…the Freddy Mercury outfit. Princess Diana in a pink dress for her pregnancy announcement.  It’s difficult to pick one…but I’ve always loved the one-sided dresses. In my archives, I have a photo of Jackie Kennedy wearing one of them. It’s a beautiful one that shows off a woman’s shoulder but covers everything else…and looks gorgeous.”

 

Rhodes' creative work in textiles and fabric led to the establishment the Fashion and Textile Museum in London, focused on highlighting the work of fashion and textile designers from the 1950s and beyond. Pieces from her traveling museum exhibit, Zandra Rhodes: A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles will be seen on the runway,

“I’ll show some of my historical works of art… my classic chiffons, a one sided one. A Manhattan print in black, a wrap dress with a deep slit…Classic Zandra,” she says.

Dame Zandra Rhodes, Saxony Group Fashion Week El Paseo, April 8, 7 p.m. Cocktails, 8:30 p.m. Fashion Show. Tickets: www.fashionweekelpaseo.com

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