Isa Arfen: A Tropical Rave Travelogue (Complete with Video)

I couldn’t resist saying it to Isa Arfen designer Serafina Sama inside her presentation at the Standard Hotel: “You do love a ruffle.”

“I do!” she conceded happily in her lovely Italian clip. (And, of course, all of fashion does right now.)

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Isa Arfen designer Serafina Sama; all images and video by Jessica Carter

But more than a ruffle, Sama loves a journey. Lots of designers take fantastic trips for the spring season, but as the Londoner shared with us, hers had a few especially thoughtful and nuanced layovers. And a really good soundtrack.

Sama described her travel as escapism, and on Saturday it was presented as a seamless three-part adventure. One expedition—rendered in black and white monochromatic and smartly checkered pieces—was inspired by Bali, but more than that it was about interaction. Sama likes clothes that require that the wearer do something. Wrap a sash, tie a tie—connect and collaborate with the garment. These pieces adapt and change, and move.

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The second stop included a sort of “tourist uniform”—a heavily embellished yet mostly straightforward dress code.

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Sama explained that she likes her precious and intricate textiles (see the army-green tunic dress and open-front white shirt pictured here) to be relaxed, and she likes to use cleaner, more simple fabrics in complicated ways.

As far as a uniform goes, we’d basically go anywhere in the world in those ruffle-hem short pants (above, left). 

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The third leg of Sama’s spring ’16 trip has to do with ’70s hedonism and “poisonous colors.” An adventure for sure.

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She called it a “tropical rave,” which is exactly what the presentation itself felt like. As the muggy day continued to threaten rain outside, songs by the Meridian Brothers, Dur-Dur Band, Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Ray Lema played in the window-box room, and we were all transported.

See if you can’t get a little liftoff yourself with this video.

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Shop: current season Isa Arfen at SPACE

—Laura Cassidy and Jessica Carter



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