All of Alejandra Alonso Rojas’s work celebrates her Spanish heritage in some way. As she was creating this collection in New York, the designer was longing for her home country (the pandemic makes traveling there complicated), and included elements of what she calls “Spanish nostalgia” into the line-up through her vibrant palette, use of fringe, and, for the first time, polka-dots.
Coming from Spain, she said on a call, polka-dots were ubiquitous, but she shied away from using them before, in part for fear of making a too-literal reference to Flamenco dancers. “Even though I’m so inspired by those beautiful ruffles and beautiful silhouettes, and they’re so feminine, I wanted to use something more modern,” she said. To do so she created her own dotted print using watercolors and avoided ruffles.
Though labeled fall, this upbeat collection reads like spring. While Rojas isn’t explicitly working on the see-now, buy-now model, she wants her designs to correspond more closely to the time in which they are delivered to stores, in this case during June and July. The designer sat out a season last year to reconsider her business plan. Deliveries is an area in which Rojas is trying to be more mindful about her impact, another is sustainability. To avoid unnecessary production, this season Rojas produced only the pieces that are shown in the look book, meaning there are no “commercial” pieces or runs in every fabrication back in the studio, though buyers will still be able to customize their orders.
Rojas applied a responsible approach to her designs as well. Of particular note are pieces made using a new technique in which leftover fabric is cut into bias strips and hand-crocheted into sweaters and dresses that release into fringe at the hem.
Hand knits are a pillar of the brand, and Rojas revisited a shawl top, reimagining it as a one-shouldered dress, and worked it using a garter stitch so the material wouldn’t have a distinct front and back. For fall there are also sweaters with horizontal cables, and a crochet with dimensional dots. Further building on the polka-dot theme, Rojas developed circular patterns that were used to make pieces like slim pants and a bolero that drape softly when worn.
Rojas likes a bit of drama in the form of a long sleeve or floor-trailing fringe, but she resisted such impulses for fall, keeping practicality in mind when reworking popular dress patterns to make them shorter and more viable as day-to-night options that retain their chic. “If I can add some elements that make your life easier, why not?” the designer mused.
Inspired by photos of her stylish abuela in pants and a suit, Rojas’s stated intention was to play the feminine off the masculine this season, using tailoring to signal the latter, and shoulder pads to convey strength. Yet the soft pieces, clever knits and draped dresses—like a pink slip that Rojas took from her own closet and remade for the collection, and a caramel and white dot “Pretty Woman” frock—held the most power.
