S/S 2021 Collection – The Story Behind the Illustrations

The Story Behind the S/S 2021 Collection

The S/S 2021 collection grew from my fascination with Morocco — its colours, landscapes, animals and the feeling that there is always another detail waiting to be noticed.

Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains became part of the world I wanted to draw. Flowers, fruits, animals and decorative details began to meet on the page, creating something somewhere between memory and imagination.

As always, the designs began with hand-drawn illustration and slowly developed into larger compositions made to live on fabric.

Morocco Through Illustration

I never wanted to draw Morocco literally. What interested me more was its atmosphere — the warmth of the colours, botanical forms, animals, architecture and the contrast between gardens, mountains and dry landscapes.

I started bringing those different elements together in my own way. Flowers and fruits appeared beside animals and ornamental forms, gradually creating an imagined place rather than one particular view.

That is often how my illustrations develop. A real place may begin the story, but while drawing it becomes something more personal — part observation, part memory and part fantasy.

A World of Colour and Imagination

I have always loved the idea that a scarf can hold much more than a pattern.

When it is opened, you can see the complete illustration — animals, flowers, borders and all the small details hidden within the composition. Once it is folded and worn, the picture changes completely.

One day an animal may be visible, another day only a flower or a flash of colour. This is one of the things I love most about drawing for scarves: the illustration never looks exactly the same when it is worn.

From Drawing to Silk

Every design starts with drawing by hand.

I create the individual characters, flowers and details first, before bringing them together digitally and working on the final composition and colour.

Seeing the finished illustration on silk is always a very different moment. The fabric brings movement and light to the drawing, and once the scarf is folded the original picture begins to break into smaller fragments.

For me, this is where illustration and fashion meet — the drawing is no longer simply an image, but something that moves with the person wearing it.

Illustration Beyond the Scarf

The S/S 2021 collection also brought some of these illustrations into the home through silk cushions.

It was interesting to see the same designs in a completely different form. A scarf is always moving and changing, while on a cushion much more of the illustration remains visible.

The idea was still the same: to surround everyday life with drawing, colour and stories.

Looking Back at S/S 2021

Looking back, this collection feels like an important part of the Ilona Tambor story.

Travel, animals, flowers and imagined places have continued to find their way into my work, even when the inspiration behind each collection is completely different.

The colours and fabrics change, new characters appear and new stories begin, but the way I work remains very similar. Everything starts with drawing.

You can explore more of the original illustrations and the stories behind them in the Ilona Tambor design archive .

Places remembered, imagined and redrawn in my own way.

Each piece begins with a line.