Fashion fanatics will no doubt know Zandra Rhodes by name and quite possibly by sight too, her vibrant pink blunt bob and cobalt blue eyeshadow easily identifiable trademarks. Starting out in the late 1960s, the designer quickly became an industry icon for her unabashed use of colour and pattern. She went on to amass a celebrity clientele that consisted of both royalty and pop royalty, designing for the likes of Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury, before being made a Dame in 2014 for services to British fashion and textiles.
Now in her eighties, Zandra may no longer be designing for her eponymous label but she certainly hasn’t slowed down. Instead, in recent years, she’s turned her attention to partnering with a whole host of fashion and lifestyle brands – think Free People, accessories brand Poppy Lissiman, Happy Socks and even Ikea – on limited edition collaborations to share her love for print and textiles with a wider audience.
The latest brand she’s joining forces with? Celia B.
Loved by fashion editors, influencers and celebrities including Olivia Palermo and Sophie Ellis Bextor, the Spanish-based namesake brand of Celia Bernardo was launched in 2012. The collections aim to spark joy and are guaranteed to make your wardrobe brighter thanks to a combination of rainbow colour palettes, sequin adornments and fun, flirty design details. All this to say, the collaboration between Zandra and Celia is, quite frankly, a match made in heaven. Something the designers are quick to echo.
“For me, it was like a dream to meet Zandra. I’ve been following her work since I started working in fashion and she has always been one of my major inspirations. She is the queen of prints!” Celia tells Cosmo.
Having been introduced via their PR representatives, Celia was invited to the Rainbow Penthouse (Zandra’s multicoloured studio that occupies the top floor of the Fashion & Textile Museum on Bermondsey Street which she founded in 2003) for a cup of tea.
“It was a very good connection, we saw a lot of synergies between both of us and we thought that it would be very nice to do something together,” she continues.
“And I could see from her work, she [Celia] understood prints and would do something wonderful with them. And she has,” Zandra interjects, gesturing down at her torso. The collection takes some of Zandra’s most recognisable prints and reinterprets them on Celia’s signature silhouettes. For our interview, Zandra is wearing the Clara Shirt, a black-backed cropped t-shirt decorated in a turquoise, lilac and red squiggle print that evokes an under-the-sea motif. A bright pink tulle fringed trim completes the design, and of course there are coordinating trousers.
But it’s actually the long evening lurex dress with a thigh-high leg slit up the side and ruffled trim, appropriately named after the Dame herself, that is both Zandra and Celia’s favourite item in the collection. “I think it is a perfect dress. It’s a stunning, stunning dress that you can’t resist,” Zandra states.
There was clearly no shortage of inspiration for the 34-piece collection, with every single item perfect for soaking up the summer sun or heading out to a party.
“It was a funny coincidence, I had previously studied Zandra’s work and I had marked some of my favourite prints and they were all the same ones that Zandra and her team had already selected for me to work with,” says Celia, laughing.
“Celia came in like a hurricane and worked out what she could do with my prints, all sorts of exciting things. The way she interpreted one in the crochet – incredible,” Zandra says. Along with multicolour separates, minis and midi designs, the Belle dress completes the crochet sub-edit. Coming in a two-tone lilac and purple beaded midi dress, it’s also offered in a wearable black and white colourway too, though Zandra and Celia are hoping people will feel inspired by this collection to wear more colour.
Barbiecore may have been one of the biggest trends of the past year, and head-to-toe red has been dubbed by many fashion insiders as the colour of the spring summer season, but the quiet luxury trend that favours an exclusively muted colour palette remains equally as popular. Something Zandra despairs about.
“I think that there’s so much need for more colour. I go out and I see everyone in grey and black and I think it’s got to change,” she muses.
Celia agrees, saying, “It’s sad. Colour is such an important part of life and of happiness. It’s such an easy tool to lift up your mood.” And as much as she’d like to see Zendaya in one of her designs, she admits it would mean more to see a stranger on the street embracing her colourful, playful clothing than any celebrity.
So, what advice do Zandra and Celia have for injecting colour into your life, especially if you’re more comfortable in black? Zandra simplifies it to just two words, “Be brave.” She’s confident the mood-boosting ability of the collection will do the rest.
“Everyone wants to blend in with the crowd in muted colours, not stand out. Wearing something different is like an act of rebellion, but [our advice to people is to] be brave and don’t be afraid of being different,” Celia adds. “That’s also why I admire Zandra so much because she has her own universe and she’s recreating that universe [in our collaboration collection].”
It is undeniably their mutual love of colour and patterns paired with their shared enthusiasm for spreading this love that unites the design duo, their natural synchronicity evident to see.
“We’re working in different times in the fashion industry, but at the end of the day, it’s making people feel good, letting them dream and creating a world of fantasy that we share. That’s the reason we get along so well, we’re true colour activists” Celia explains.
“Yes, I like that! Come to Zandra and Celia, the colour activists,” Zandra shouts excitedly.
Trust us, when you see the collection, you’ll come running.
Shop our favourite pieces from the Celia B x Zandra Rhodes collab now:
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