Who Is Roksanda Ilincic? 9 Facts About the London Designer

Roksanda Ilincic is a Belgrade-born, London-based designer who trained in architecture before taking an MA in Womenswear at Central Saint Martins. She showed her label at London Fashion Week in 2005, opened a Mount Street flagship in 2014 and was made an MBE in 2023. Luxury Handbags stocks her Autumn Winter 2026 collection now.

That short version leaves out the part that matters most when you are buying: an architect’s eye for structure, and a colour sense that pairs shades most designers would keep apart. Below is the full story, from Belgrade to Mayfair, plus the pieces worth buying at Roksanda on Luxury Shoes this season.

Who is Roksanda Ilincic?

She is the founder and creative director of Roksanda, a London womenswear house known for colour blocking, sculptural volume and architectural draping.

Roksanda Ilincic was born in 1975 in Belgrade. She lives in north London and has built her house there for two decades. The quick facts below are the ones buyers and journalists ask about most often.

Where did Roksanda Ilincic study?

She studied architecture and design in Belgrade first, then fashion at Central Saint Martins in London.

Her first degree came from the Faculty of Applied Arts at the University of Arts in Belgrade. In 1999 she moved to London for the MA in Womenswear at Central Saint Martins, the course that has produced a long line of London names.

The architecture training is not a footnote. You can see it in the way a Roksanda dress is engineered: a cape anchored at one shoulder, a skirt that holds its own shape in cloque, a jacket with a circular cut out at the back. The house builds volume with seams and fabric weight rather than with padding, which is why the clothes look sculpted on the hanger and move well on the body.

When did the Roksanda label launch?

The label made its debut at London Fashion Week in 2005 and still shows in London today.

For its first decade the house traded under the founder’s full name, Roksanda Ilincic. Around the time the Mount Street store opened in 2014, the name shortened to Roksanda. If you are searching archive pieces, both names refer to the same label, and older labels inside garments may carry the longer version.

Staying on the London schedule has shaped the brand’s identity. It sits within the British occasionwear tradition alongside houses covered in our guide to the new British designers to know, while its colour and cut look more like art than ceremony.

What is the Roksanda store on Mount Street like?

The flagship sits at 9 Mount Street in Mayfair, in a Grade II listed building, and opened in June 2014.

Ilincic designed the space with the architect David Adjaye. Terrazzo floors and terrazzo rails give the store the feel of a gallery, and the clothes hang with plenty of room around them so the colour reads clearly. It is one of the clearest examples of how the founder’s architecture background runs through the business, not just the clothes.

Beyond Mount Street, the brand sells on its own website and has been carried by retailers such as Harrods, Net-a-Porter and Farfetch. Luxury Handbags carries the current season with worldwide shipping; our guide on where to buy Roksanda covers the options in more detail.

What awards has Roksanda won?

Roksanda has won major British fashion and industry awards, and the founder was made an MBE in 2023.

• 2012: Red Carpet Award at the British Fashion Awards.
• 2013: Red Carpet Designer Award at the British Elle Style Awards.
• 2014: Business Woman of the Year at the Harper’s Bazaar UK Women of the Year awards.
• 2016: British Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards.
• 2023: MBE in the Birthday Honours, for services to fashion design.

The two red carpet awards explain a lot about the brand’s reputation. Roksanda is the kind of evening dress that photographs well from every angle, because the interest is in the cut and the colour rather than in embellishment.

Which museums have shown Roksanda?

Roksanda designs have appeared in exhibitions at the Design Museum and the V&A in London.

The Design Museum included her work in “Women Fashion Power”, an exhibition about how women have used clothing to project authority. The V&A showed Roksanda in “Ballgowns: British Glamour Since 1950”, a survey of British evening dress. Both placements make sense: one speaks to her daywear and tailoring, the other to her gowns.

What is Roksanda known for?

Roksanda is known for unexpected colour pairings, architectural draping and sculptural volume, often finished with a cape.

Colour blocking

The house puts shades together that you would not expect to work: oxblood against blush, fuchsia against orange, brown against iris blue. The Nella Dress in Ultra Pink is a good example, an ultra pink silk satin gown with a single cape that falls over an orange lining. The Caia Dress in Brown Melange does the same thing in tailoring, with an iris blue back panel and a keyhole cut out.

Capes and cape sleeves

A Roksanda cape is usually built into the dress rather than worn over it. The Hiba Dress in Meadow Green pairs a cap sleeve on one side with a draped cape sleeve on the other. Our guide to cape dresses compares the shape across designers.

Fabrics with body

Bias-cut silk satin, cloque and double satin appear season after season. Most pieces are lined in 73% acetate and 27% silk, which helps them sit cleanly against the body. The Rova Dress in Wine uses cloque for a dramatically full skirt, while the Zoa Dress in Black drapes double satin across the body to a knot at the waist.

Who wears Roksanda?

Roksanda’s best-known wearers include Catherine, Princess of Wales, Michelle Obama and Cate Blanchett.

The list also takes in Emily Blunt, Keira Knightley, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Samantha Cameron and Princess Rajwa of Jordan (Rajwa Al Saif). The Princess of Wales has returned to the house more than once, most visibly in a marigold Brigitte dress she first wore in Jamaica in 2022 and wore again at Royal Ascot in June 2026. We tell that story in full in the Princess of Wales and Roksanda.

What links these women is a preference for clothes that read as considered rather than loud. A Roksanda dress lets the colour do the talking, so jewellery can stay minimal.

Has Roksanda collaborated with other brands?

Yes: Roksanda has collaborated with Barbour International and with lululemon.

Barbour International x Roksanda launched its first collection in 2022 and a second for Autumn Winter 2023, bringing the house’s colour sense to outerwear such as capes and gilets. A lululemon x Roksanda activewear collection applied the same thinking to performance clothing. Both projects show how easily the Roksanda signature travels outside eveningwear.

What should you buy from Roksanda now?

For Autumn Winter 2026, start with a cloque dress in burgundy, a silk satin gown and one piece of contrast tailoring.

The season leans into deep burgundy, wine, Calliope (a dark oxblood), Heliotrope (a vivid fuchsia), meadow green, aqua, navy and black, with brown melange tailoring set against blue and green panels. Our Roksanda Autumn Winter 2026 edit walks through the full collection. These are the pieces I would pick first.

• Syla Dress in Burgundy: a floor-length column in sheer cloque with short sleeves and an architectural drape at the hip.
• Kami Dress in Light Aqua: a bias silk satin column with wide draped sleeves that gather at the cuff.
• Ida Dress in Rosado: silk satin with architectural drapes and an asymmetric handkerchief hem.
• Ivara Jacket in Brown Melange: a peak lapel wool jacket with a cinched waist and a statement circular cut out at the back.
• Ines Trouser in Brown Melange: a low-waisted, wide wool trouser with a folded cuff, made to wear with the Ivara.
• Cirel Top in Burgundy: sheer cloque with a bateau neckline and an asymmetric peplum hem.

For more dresses by length and occasion, see the Roksanda dresses guide, and browse every gown in evening gowns. Tailoring sits in jackets.

How does Roksanda fit?

Roksanda fits true to size, and the house model wears a UK 8.

The house cuts UK 4 to 22, and Luxury Handbags lists UK 4 to 18. On the house chart a UK 8 measures 86 cm at the bust, 66 cm at the waist and 94 cm at the hips; a UK 12 measures 95, 75 and 103 cm. To convert, US sizing is the UK size minus 4, EU and FR sizing is the UK size plus 28, and Italian sizing is the UK size plus 32. Care is specialist dry clean. The Roksanda size guide has the full chart, and our guide to British sizing explains how London houses compare.

If you like the Roksanda approach and want to compare it with similar houses, read brands like Roksanda.

Frequently asked questions

Where is Roksanda Ilincic from?

Roksanda Ilincic was born in 1975 in Belgrade. She moved to London in 1999 to study for an MA in Womenswear at Central Saint Martins and now lives in north London, where her house is based.

Did Roksanda Ilincic study architecture?

Yes. She studied architecture and design at the Faculty of Applied Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade, before her fashion MA in London. That training shows in her draping, capes and sculptural volume.

When did Roksanda start her label?

The label made its debut at London Fashion Week in 2005. It traded as Roksanda Ilincic at first and became Roksanda around the opening of the Mount Street flagship in 2014.

Is Roksanda Ilincic an MBE?

Yes. She was made an MBE in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to fashion design. Her awards also include British Designer of the Year at the Elle Style Awards 2016.

Where can I buy Roksanda?

Roksanda sells at its Mount Street flagship in Mayfair and on its own website. Luxury Handbags carries the Autumn Winter 2026 collection with worldwide shipping, with duties calculated at checkout.

Does Roksanda run true to size?

Roksanda says its pieces fit true to size, and the house model wears a UK 8. The house cuts UK 4 to 22, and Luxury Handbags lists UK 4 to 18.