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After decades of design, Zandra Rhodes remains relevant

VICKY SANDERSON POSTMEDIA NEWS

The work of British fashion and textile designer Zandra Rhodes is often described in light-hearted terms like cheeky, zany, exuberant and kooky.

While subjectively accurate, they may not reflect the respect due to Ms. Rhodes, who, in 2019, celebrated her 50th year in fashion, where she remains a potent force into her ’80s, and after recovering from cancer.

Recently, she teamed with Ikea for a collaboration called Karismatisk — a limited collection of home decor and textiles. Inspired by her riotous, fluid use of colour — which remains fresh, relevant and fun. It’s the latest in a line of collabs, including partnerships with Valentino, Topshop and Mac Cosmetics.

Rhodes’ authentic and original vision has been influencing design and, by extension, mass culture since the ’60s. She’s designed clothes for personalities as diverse as Diana, Princess of Wales, and Freddy Mercury, and has a list of awards as long as her arm. She may also be the only Dame of the

British Empire who’s been arrested (in 1986) for growing cannabis.

In an excellent profile in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, Rhodes recounts that as a child she loved illustration, and still has the sketch books she filled back then. Later, her talent secured a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, where she started to experiment with draping fabric on human forms.

A 1969 solo collection caught the attention of American Vogue, in which actor Natalie Wood modelled one of Rhodes’ designs. At the same time, her own strong signature style was evolving, and she describes gravitating toward “crazy colours” from department store Woolworths to paint her face.

By the late ’70s, Rhodes turned to punk for inspiration, employing strategically torn fabric and safety pins to create a street-glam esthetic that coloured pop culture for the next decade.

The collab with Ikea comes at a fitting moment in home design, where individualism is a huge driver.

Rhodes has always been a proponent

of personal style: the bold patterns, recurring florals, shiny finishes, ruffles and saturated colour in the collection are building blocks for fearless self-expression. If you can’t make a statement in your home with these loud, proud pieces, you never will.

Anchoring it is a series of pre-cut fabric designs that have endless uses. The 300-by-150-centimetre pieces are made of polyester from recycled material — as is most of the textile in the collection. They can be used to make clothes, drapes, linens, crafts or decor. They also come with a pattern for an easy-to-make kaftan.

A throw combines the floral shapes Rhodes has played with throughout her career, executed in a palette of intense gold, pink, scarlet and blue. The underside is a zig-zag of the same colour. There’s lighting too, including a metal-work lampshade, a string of LED lights shaped like small gold flowers, and a scooped and pebbled pendant/table lamp in gold-coloured powdered steel.

Also pretty is a set of pink glass vases, which can be used separately or fit together to form a Z (for Zandra, naturally).

Because it’s Ikea, nothing in the collection will break the bank. But you may want to shop sooner rather than later, because it is limited. As for consumers who are seeing her work for the first time, Rhodes hopes it will inspire them to “have fun,” adding that “even small splashes of colour or pieces of pattern in our homes positively affects mood and vibe.”

HOMES

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2021-10-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-16T07:00:00.0000000Z

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