ROBERTS | WOOD spring/summer 2020 collection presentation for LFW

In Roberts | Wood’s SS20 collection, presented at London Fashion Week, founder Katie Roberts-Wood invites us into a sanctuary with an immersive quasi-digital experience designed to explore ideas of self-image, girlhood, womanhood and identity.

The brand is intensely focused on the way things are made, naturally evident in the careful intricacies of design in all pieces displayed. Sheer fabric is a predominant foundation of the collection, perhaps reflecting the designer’s intention of empowering the wearer to feel protected whilst applauding vulnerability.

The collection’s new approach to embroidery reveals the innovation behind the season’s designs. Each pattern piece is a collection of re-engineered discarded scraps and offcuts from previous collections which are digitised and rendered in black and white, then hand-tied together. This is naturally a nod to reducing fashion’s infamous carbon footprint, while also signifying the designer’s circular approach to her practice.

The underlays depicting images of armoured women holding swords draw immediate attention, holding us in limbo between the digital world and reality, while the collection’s key colours could easily be ignored simply because they are the least striking feature. Neutral tones of cream and black represent a neutral emotional state, while the yellows and greens are associated with more acidic mentalities.

Roberts| Wood’s SS20 collection breaks the mould of archetypal femininity. It encourages us to wear clothing in whatever way we see fit, to see it as a visual armour to the world around us and subsequently to gain personal freedom by rejecting unwanted gazes.

Grace Walsh
Photos: Krish Nagari