One of the ways that Alejandra Alonso Rojas’s line is women-friendly is that it isn’t driven by trends. Disposable is not an adjective that can be applied to this designer’s work, both in terms of its make—knits are done by hand, prints and dyeing are done in-house—and the stuff it’s made of—butter-soft suedes, upcycled cashmere, supple leathers, silks, and satins. Her two-for-one reversible shearlings certainly count as investment pieces. And if you like the cut of a suit, the snugness of a bustier, or the bias drape of a skirt, you don’t have to worry that you’ll never see them again; even as Rojas develops new silhouettes, she evolves existing ones. This season, she’s rethought a best seller by cropping it from floor length to ankle length, for example.
Still, there’s never a lack of newness in Rojas’s collections. “I feel I like them better every season,” she says. “They keep getting smaller but more cohesive, so I’m loving that.” The main draw for Fall 2019 is a stunning palette that’s richer and deeper than any the designer has worked with previously. There are greens that range from emerald to malachite, raspberries, reds, an irresistible burnt orange, some of which were pulled from the paintings of Tamara de Lempicka and Maruja Mallo. Rojas was unafraid to mix these, a navy-and-red suede midi was notable. Tempering these warm tones were a series of ice blue pieces. Touches of camel were representative of the equestrian theme that ran through the collection; its most obvious expression was a hand-drawn print of running horses (Rojas’s spirit animal).
Rojas wanted to capture something of the unbridled freedom of a galloping steed in her Fall collection. Ease was a catchword: As she was designing evening options, like dégradé slip dresses with ’30s flair and a new bias-cut stunner with high neck and darts, she was thinking of the sort of undone glamour of a woman, sunk deep into a chair after returning home from a party. Ease is a relative concept, however. Wherever she may reside, Rojas’s woman has a rather polished, uptown sensibility, which is one of the reasons the clothes work so well in the urbane and cultured environs of Galerie Michael Bargo (its walls hung with kinetic sculptures by Luke Todd), where the lookbook images were shot.
