Roylance Chapter II: The Floating Rose, the Weight of Water.
Chapter II: The Floating Rose, the Weight of Water continues Roylance’s exploration of British craft through a slower, more intimate lens. Developed in collaboration with historian and canal-boat artist Kay Andrews, the collection translates the painted roses of Britain’s waterways into engineered prints, quilted surfaces, and layered silhouettes that move with quiet purpose.
Inspired by long summer cycles through the Walthamstow Marshes during the heatwaves of 2025, the collection reflects a landscape of stillness and motion — working water, drifting light, and lives lived along the canal’s edge. Garments echo this rhythm through fluid dresses, bias-cut layers, second-skin printed pieces, and softly structured pieces. Quilted jackets and coats carry the weight of the collection, while sheer jerseys and lightweight wovens introduce breathability and ease.
Here, ornament is not excess but endurance. The canal-boat rose — traditionally painted onto vessels built for labour and life — becomes a motif of continuity, care, and surface in motion. Prints wrap and trail across the body, while stitching and quilting translate decorative tradition into contemporary construction. Roylance reimagines this endangered craft within modern womenswear, where heritage is carried forward lightly, and beauty is shaped by passage rather than permanence.
Model, Mitch Greene
Photographer, Rohan Tillett
Production Assistant, Chhaya Naik