Capri Pants, Polka Dots and Vintage Silhouettes—This Designer Is Responsible For Some of Fashion's Biggest Trends

Chani Ra is a Who What Wear UK Editor in Residence and London-based fashion commentator at her social channel The Fashion Nap, which covers show reports, trend commentary and both current and archival industry analysis on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. As well as speaking as an expert on panels, she also often interviews industry leaders and experts on her platform. This month, she sat down with fashion designer Emma Rowen Rose to hear about her personal style DNA and the inspiration behind her upcoming collections.

EMMA ROWEN ROSE ON HER INSPIRATION AND ROWEN ROSE'S STYLE DNA

If there’s one thing fashion in the 2020s will be remembered for, it will be the trend cycle reaching maximum speed. With the roll of a dice (or the scroll of your feed), you can unlock an endless stream of "girls" and "cores" linked to very specific aesthetics. Whilst trends are fun and a great way to try new looks, have you ever thought about where they come from, who the early adopters were and what happens to the brands whose design DNA hits the mainstream big time? Does the newfound attention change their design process? Are they scared about what comes next?

Over the past couple of summers, we've seen an influx of polka dots, vintage cuts and '80s flair, with Doja Cat serving as the ringleader. Power shoulders on Hailey Bieber and capris and kitten heels on Zoë Kravitz took on a life of their own, leaving their stylists (Dani Michelle and Danielle Goldberg, respectively) in high demand. As these trending pieces have grown ever more popular, one brand keeps springing to my mind: Rowen Rose.

Launching her namesake label in 2019, Emma Rowen Rose has become known for dreaming up collections full of structural, '80s-style silhouettes, tongue-in-cheek irony and a strong sense of femininity. The decisive and firm brand DNA also seeps into her own style, which serves as the ultimate inspo for how to style and live in her pieces. As we witness the Rowen Rose look become the look, I wanted to go to the source to decipher what sets apart a leader from a follower.

A Q&A WITH EMMA ROWEN ROSE

Emma joined our call from her Paris office, as elegant as you’d expect in a black, wide-shouldered blazer with her auburn hair pulled back to reveal spherical gold earrings and a vibrant glow of blush on her cheeks. I suddenly regretted not ironing my cardigan, quietly hoping the creases were reading as a Prada autumn/winter 2023 frazzled intellectual moment.

Chani Ra: Your designs influence so many people. What makes you feel inspired?

Emma Rowen Rose: "I've always grabbed inspiration from paintings and poetry because I'm a big literature fan. I'm really into poetry; it's a medium that condenses beauty into literature. I start with a concept and then start researching, reading and watching movies. I'm working on the new collection now, and the concept is how we create icons."

CR: Do you find you're repeatedly drawn to a certain type of character?

ERR: "I think there's a pattern of ambivalence. That's why movies fascinate me: not the costumes but the complexity of the character and the contradictions, because I don't think people are that linear. The last collection was about the contradiction of a strong softness, and I think that it's my way to try to make fashion interesting. I try not to make it easily describable in one word."

CR: So often, designers try to be understood by a definitive vision, but you’re steering away from that.

ERR: "I wouldn't like someone to say that the brand is just "feminine". I don't think it describes the brand well enough. Even if we talk about textures, I don't want to have a collection that is just about fluidity. I try to balance it with something rigid."

CR: We don't want to be one thing all the time; we have different moods, ideas and occasions. Were you influenced to make clothes because of your own struggle over what to wear?

ERR:"It's a product I love by consequence because the brand is so personal and so truthful to what I love. I didn't plan for our best-seller to be a polo dress, for example. Sometimes you adapt to the market. My fascination for vintage dressing or for the '80s definitely influenced the brand."

CR: We have seen an '80s resurgence over the last few seasons. How do you set yourself apart, especially as someone who has been working with these silhouettes from the start?

ERR: "I try not to get inspiration from costumes or from existing fashion because, for me, it makes no sense: if you can find something similar in a vintage store, why would you buy it from us? I think we still have to bring something new to the table; otherwise, why should we create another brand? There are so many brands already and so many products around."

CR: What is it like when your authentic style becomes a huge trend, and how does that affect how you design?

ERR: "I think [this question] is super interesting because I never saw it like that, but it's so on point. The brand has evolved a lot, but the DNA has stayed consistent. Even when there was the rise of 'quiet luxury' around 2020, we were totally counter-trend; I remember being like, 'Oh my god, people don't want flamboyant, colourful dressing! They're looking for The Row and Lemaire, a navy sweater and black pants. How am I going to fit into that?'

"The truth is, you're either on trend or you’re not. My mentality is to stay truthful to what the brand is. So, if it's on trend, maybe it's a lucky moment, and if it's not, stick to your thing. The brands I respect and admire the most are the ones that stay standing on their own two feet. I think it's great that [our style] has become a little bit more popular to widen people's mindsets. That's a really beautiful thing. But I don't think it will change us."

CR: If you survived quiet luxury, then I think you’ll be fine!

ERR: "I believe [Karl Lagerfeld] said, 'Trendy is the last stage before tacky'. Being on trend can be great because you can surf on success, but you can’t become tacky or obsolete as soon as the trend goes down. I think it's more interesting to bring people to our universe. You see, we're seeing this happen today with the celebrities we dress; you wouldn't say, per se, that Cardi B would be a Rowen Rose girl because she's not known for that style, and yet she's been wearing our brand the most in those past months and embodying it, becoming that Rowen Rose character to perfection.

"I feel, as brands, we need to be spaces where people can come and grab what they want. But I don’t think [brands] should follow trends or feel at ease with the trend."

CR: In your S/S 27 show notes for your collection "The Secret Garden", there was a line about turning softness into power. How was that sentiment expressed through the clothing?

ERR: "It was the first time I was exploring pastels in a very long time. I used pastel yellows and lilacs, so it was my first time coming back to this palette [since the first collection]. We're considered a very feminine brand because we're not "masculine" in an obvious way. But we think we have a powerful femininity. I was worried that if we did pastels plus feminine silhouettes, the collection was going to look girly; too soft and fragile in a way, so I needed to find a way to compensate for this.

"I looked at a lot of herbariums, and this is why I integrated some stronger prunes and navy blues to contrast the pastels. In flowers, you have a light-pink rose that becomes darker pink around the edges. I was like, 'Okay, so this is how we can make it more interesting.' We also did this by adding leather and tailoring."

CR: Beyoncé was a customer of yours before being dressed in Rowen Rose by a stylist, and has since repeatedly been styled in your pieces. How does that feel?

ERR: "For me, it was like, if you dress Beyoncé, what else can you do? Who else can you dress? So dressing her in 2020 was definitely a milestone. We've now dressed her multiple times, so it's an honour. This was definitely one of the big wins early on, knowing my customer was f—ing Beyoncé!"

SHOP ROWEN ROSE