The Rainbow Connection: Zandra Rhodes Reflects on 50 Years of Design

LONDON — The secret is in the screen-printed silks. Dame Zandra Rhodes is ready to lift the hot pink curtain on a 50-year retrospective of her work, but the clothes — the caftans, sparkly Eighties dresses and breezy belted gowns — tell only part of the story. Textiles, instead, are the stars of this show: They’re colorful, hand-drawn, hole-punched, cut, pleated, burnt out, appliquéd or embellished with sequined landscapes or hand-painted buttons. They are the alpha and the omega of Rhodes’ collections, and that will never change, said the designer who turned 79 last week, and whose magenta bob is glowing as brightly as ever. During a preview of “Zandra Rhodes: 50 Years of Fabulous,” which opens Friday and runs through Jan. 26, the designer admitted she still walks around with big sheets of drawing paper pinned to her clothing so she can see how her sketches will move on the body once they’re printed on a garment. That’s one reason why more than half of this show is dedicated to Rhodes’ printed silk chiffons, and her methods for making them. In addition, an entire room has been given over to her sketchbooks and blown-up images of Rhodes’ colored squiggles, waves, curlicues and abstract nature drawings,

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