Rachel Roy has been busy putting the finishing touches on a renovated showroom, which she's modeled after a pre-war Parisian apartment. She's filled the open and airy space with gritty concrete sculptures of the female form by New York-based artist Jo-Ann Brody. Brody's pieces inspired Roy's new pre-fall collection, as did the work of Louise Bourgeois and the Art Deco-era sensation Tamara de Lempicka. The common thread tying together all three influences is the idea of "strong, badass women doing what they loved in a time when that was difficult," Roy said. "It's my favorite era—the hair got shorter, clothes got looser, and people embraced a more masculine edge."
Roy interpreted the Art Deco theme fairly literally on pieces like a pretty, drop-waist dress with sunburst pleating fanning out into a cascade on one side, or a gauzy sweater with a pattern that looked like a zoomed-in shot of piano keys. Personally, Roy prefers to "borrow from the boys" and gravitates toward the relaxed tweed suiting separates that she's pushed in recent seasons. But she has also built up her business on eveningwear, so there were a few statement looks here ripe for after-hours carousing or maybe the red carpet. Case in point: a turquoise dress cut from hammered silk with a built-in rose gold choker necklace and long sleeves slit along the inner arms for a flash of skin.
