Johanna Ortiz gave her new collection a name: Soledad. Solitude is a state of being we’re all too familiar with a year into pandemic lockdowns. Ortiz, a designer known for party dresses based in Cali, Colombia, has had to make accommodations not just in the way she does business, but in her designs themselves. The flounces and flowers that are her signatures have faded temporarily into the background. Her fall collection is earthier than what we’re used to seeing from her; with ikat prints and wild-horse motifs; an emphasis on easy-wearing cotton and an expanded knit offering; and a palette lifted from the desert.
On a Zoom call, Ortiz even presented a pair of white jeans. Denim is denim wherever you are in the world. Leather dresses and separates, too, had a certain anonymity. Ortiz’s USP is her Latin background, her glamorous, yet grounded personal aesthetic, and the production atelier where upwards of 350 mostly female employees make her clothes (only the knits are made outside of Colombia, in Peru). The best pieces here had a strong sense of place, accentuated by the thick fringes of raffia trim added to hems and the raffia belts that decorated waists. A little black dress played against JO type, but she gave it a raffia hem and was pleased to report that store buyers liked it.
