ROKSANDA and Cutler & Gross have collaborated to create six pairs of stunning sunglasses for spring/summer 2017. Inspired by the balance between technology and nature, the two brands looked to the artist collective Troika to delve deeper into these elements within art, design and fashion. The result? A fascinating discussion that had us thinking more deeply about clothes than we thought possible.

Troika's studio. All artworks and details copyright Troika.

With the atmospheric sounds of trains above them, Troika work in a studio based in the Hoxton Arches. We visited the collective, made up of the intelligent and appropriately stylish Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer and Sebastian Noel, who explore unconventional methods of art making through variations on perspective, light, water and even electricity. Our favourite pieces on show were a tapestry of thousands of dice (man-made but eerily systematic) and a series of paintings created by meandering electrical currents (this is some dangerous work!).

ROKSANDA dress. All artworks and details copyright Troika.

The same meticulous methodology was applied to ROKSANDA’s beautiful gown that hangs in the studio. The dress is one of only ten, and now we know why. To look at, the piece appears as if it were made by a machine. Alas no, every delicate ball (of the 7,000 in total) were handmade and attached to frothy layers of lavender organza. The creative director Roksanda Ilinčić explained that for each one, a tiny marble was covered with the fabric, painted with starch to create a shell, removed, dried, then stitched on.  

ROKSANDA x Cutler & Gross sunglasses. All artworks and details copyright Troika.

The Serbian designer’s attention to detail is what made her collaboration with Cutler & Gross so interesting. Together with the eyewear brand’s design director, Marie Wilkinson, Ilinčić used Cutler and Gross’s rich history, in particular its iconic silhouettes from the 1980s, to develop the perfect hybrid of retro futurism – just like Troika’s exploration of the natural and the technological.

The shades come in six different crazy colours: peach tinted, tortoiseshell, green and more. And we’ve been told that we can expect more seasons to come!

See the full ROKSANDA X Cutler & Gross collection, which is available to buy now, at www.cutlerandgross.com. Read more about Troika's work here.

Text by Abigail Southan