Anciela SS27 Explores our Roots

Anciela’s SS27 presentation was a striking reminder that sustainability and luxury fashion can exist in harmony and the smallest design decisions can leave a huge positive impact in the long run. Presented on 17 September at Regent Quarter during London Fashion Week, Colombian-Chilean designer and Anciela founder, Jennifer Droguett Espinosa, explored ancestry, memory, tradition, and regeneration through a collection rooted in our relationship with Mother Earth.

Titled “Roots”, the presentation unfolded across three acts — ancestry, connection, transformation and regeneration — directed by filmmaker Marie Lanna with artist Luzmira Zerpa. The second look itself was a striking one, as the model emerged in a sheer, floor-length white dress paired with an oversized sculptural headpiece, reminiscent of Carrie Bradshaw’s iconic fashion moments while nodding to a high-fashion, avant-garde aesthetic. Sheer fabrics continued throughout the collection, appearing in delicate dresses and beneath structured outerwear, while cut-outs revealed flashes of brightly coloured bralettes.

Adaptive tailoring was central to the collection, with adjustable panels, detachable elements and layers that wrapped around the body with several styling possibilities. The silhouettes moved between masculine and feminine codes, pairing oversized trousers and structured tailoring with fluid draping, voluminous skirts and exaggerated sleeves. One standout look combined a structured grey suit with cascading fringe, while cream polka dots appeared across dramatic skirts and sculptural separates. Consider this another sign that polka dots are officially back.

The casting added another emotional layer. Models of different generations appeared throughout the presentation, interacting with each other, creating a continuity between past and present and reflecting the collection’s ideas around inherited knowledge, memory and connection between a mother and daughter. Sustainability, however, was perhaps the most significant element of the collection. Material innovation was embedded within the design process itself. Anciela worked with vintage silk donated by artist Allegra Hicks, rescued wool suiting from Orsola de Castro, deadstock and recycled cottons, and certified Tencel.

The collection further introduced innovative materials including AlgaFila, a fibre made using seaweed extract, alongside Savigne by Planet of the Grapes, a plant-based leather alternative created from grape skins, stalks and seeds left over from winemaking. Even the Abstract fern motifs were created using a bio-based pigment developed by Octarine. Nature was not simply just referenced aesthetically, but it became part of the collection’s construction.

Anciela demonstrated how material innovation can become a creative tool for imagining a more circular future and Roots ultimately brought together fashion, performance and material innovation and perhaps the collection’s most important message: if our relationship with Mother Earth is as complex, intimate and enduring as the relationship between generations, then the way we make, wear and pass on clothing deserves the same care.