Rose Danford-Phillips

ROSE DANFORD-PHILLIPS’ SS2020 COLLECTION ‘KISS OF THE EARTH’ IS INSPIRED BY THE WILD, SUBLIME ENERGY OF NATURE IN SPRING AND SUMMER. AMONG THE ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS OF THIS COLLECTION ARE STRAVINSKY'S ‘THE RITE OF SPRING’, HILMA AF KLINT’S ‘THE 10 LARGEST’, RACHEL RUYSCH (THE FEMALE 17TH CENTURY DUTCH FLOWERS PAINTER), AND CIRCE BY MADELINE MILLER - ALL EXAMPLES WHICH INSPIRED ROSE TO EXAMINE THE SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF NATURE, AND THEIR CONNECTION TO WOMEN.

TOO OFTEN IN DESIGN, THE RAW POWER OF NATURE IS NEUTRALISED. WITH FLORALS, THE TRUE SEXUAL NATURE AND FUNCTION OF FLOWERS WHICH MANIFEST IN BRILLIANT COLOUR AND ASTONISHING FORM ARE REDUCED TO PRETTY FLOWER MOTIFS AND DAINTY FLORALS, ALL WILD POWER SANITISED. THIS SANITISATION IS AN EXAMPLE OF MODERNISM’S SYSTEMATIC EXTERMINATION OF THE MEANING AND FUNCTION OF ORNAMENT, WHICH IT DENIGRATES AS A SIGN OF THE FEMININE AND EXOTIC, LEAVING A HOLLOW SHELL EMPTIED OF MEANING.

INSPIRED BY THESE EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF NATURE, ROSE SEEKS A RETURN TO MEANINGFUL ORNAMENT AND DECORATION IN HER CLOTHES. VIVID PRINTS ARE THE FOUNDATION OF THE COLLECTION - PSYCHEDELIC POPPIES, MELTED PEONIES AND NYMPHS NESTLED IN FOLIAGE MERGE WITH ABSTRACT BRUSHSTROKES ON SILK AND COTTON. FEATHERS ABOUND - CLOUDS OF OSTRICH FEATHERS FLOAT IN THE BREEZE, GOOSE FEATHERS UNFURL INTO ABSTRACT BLOSSOMS AND COQUE FEATHERS BOUNCE LIKE FOUNTAIN GRASS. JEWELLERY PIECES JUXTAPOSE THE LIGHTNESS OF FEATHERS WITH THE SWAYING WEIGHT OF CHAIN, AND LAURELS OF PAINTED SHELLS (MADE BY THE DESIGNER’S FATHER) SIGNIFY THE VICTORIOUS FEMININE.

''DECORATING IS NOT A SURFACE PERFORMANCE, IT'S A SPIRITUAL IMPULSE, INBORN AND PRIMORDIAL.''
TONY DUQUETTE

JEWELLERY BY LEO COSTELLOE
HATS AND SHELL ACCESSORIES BY TONY DANFORD