Questioning what a post-covid designer should do and how a post-covid collection should look, Roland Mouretconcluded that he should be true to himself. The pandemic has changed his business and his priorities. For SS22, he didn’t want to do a traditional fashion show. “Going back to the catwalk for me is not the answer. To see girls walking and going nowhere. The symbol of it is meaningless.” Instead, he used his slot and the budget set aside for a show to give a platform to a young film director. “Let’s work with people who have a voice, let’s give that amount of money to other people to express something about their life,” said Mouret of his new approach.

He gave carte blanche and creative freedom to the young, Greece-based writer/director/actress Magaajyia Silberfied. She collaborated with co-director Elias Borst on a film based on the Greek Island of Terma which retells the Ulysses myth from a female point of view and blends it with the modern-day migrant crisis. Unlike the original myth, the female characters are not dangerous threats. Instead, they work together to protect each other. Mouret was clear, that he wanted it to be a dramatic short film, not a fashion film, so although the characters wear pieces from his SS22 collection, the story takes precedence, not clothes.

Idris and Sabrina Elba brought some Hollywood glamour to his intimate screening, after which the audience browsed Mouret’s new collection on rails. “There is less quantity of clothes, but less can become more in a way,” explained Mouret, who’d cut down the number of skews but focused on perfecting his signature pieces.  “I wanted to make clothes that are really your best friend. Clothes that bring the same emotion that you feel when you can count on your friend. That is why the collection, this season, has more of a sense of movement, easiness and transformation,” he said of the crepe shirt dresses, painterly prints and sensual draped pieces. He deliberately chose an optimistic colour palette of sunshine yellows, pea greens and vivid reds to enhance the feel-good vibe of the collection. These weren’t just clothes, he said, but “therapy.. because that is what friends do when you see them.”

Photography courtesy of Roland Mouret.

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