Everything Luxury – If I was A Millionaire

It’s been a few months since Barbara Bui opened her L.A. store, and it looks as though the West Coast is rubbing off on her color palette. The Paris-based designer presented a Resort lineup of sky blue, peach pink, and sage green separates, which meshed well with her cool Parisian aesthetic. Leather was the key player here—be it on the trim of a jacquard checkered skirt, on loose-fitting track shorts, or on a T-shirt, the most appealing of which featured an Asian-inspired flower design and zipper accents. Outerwear was another highlight—it usually is for Bui. The designer showed her signature cropped jacket in white linen with electric blue snakeskin sleeves and green piping, as well as a longer oversize coat with the same detailing poking out from behind the collar—chic. If color was Bui’s way of appealing to her West Coast customers, she gave a shout-out to her New York client base with a gamut of covetable accessories. Think high-heeled sandals with ethnic beading, camel-colored doctor’s bags, heavy snake necklaces, and cuff bracelets spiked to perfection.
—Jessica Minkoff

Among the various connotations of the word resort, there’s the one which suggests well-heeled, no-fuss patrician leisure. That was the vein Richard Nicoll tapped with a tightly edited pre-collection. He made his point with crisp poplins and piqués and a summery, ice creamy color palette. Perhaps the sporty clarity was influenced by the menswear collection Nicoll is launching in London later this week. There was certainly a masculine inflection in a shirtdress cut from banker’s stripes. (Nicoll’s original focus at Saint Martins was, after all, menswear.)


But the designer contrasted the essential conservatism of such pieces with the subtle flamboyance of a coat and jacket in a Regency floral jacquard from Stephen Walters and Sons, who have been weaving silk in Suffolk since the 1720′s. The contrast was the clearest illustration of the versatility with which Nicoll claimed he was courting a range of age groups and body shapes, perhaps a little ambitious given that these clothes had an innately athletic sensuality that seemed best suited to lithe young bodies. The lambskin shift in a beige-trimmed pale aqua, for instance. Or the hoodie. Or the bustier dress. Kudos to Nicoll that such looks would work equally on glittery Capri or gritty Kingsland Road, the East End artery that runs past his studio.
—Tim Blanks

L’Wren Scott was in town this week showing off her first-ever Resort collection. “It’s fun and lively, how resort used to be,” she said from her perch in the Crosby Street Hotel. It certainly showcased her sense of humor and an appreciation for visual puns. Working from her personal collection of propaganda materials dating back to world wars I and II, she hand-drew the season’s prints. Hat’s Off, as its name suggests, is a colorful cap pattern and salutes “those who fight for peace and freedom”; L’Wren’s Loves features L-words like Leggy, Looker, and Luscious; and a graphic box print is actually Morse code spelling out the designer’s name and the phrase “don’t fake it.” These and several more appeared on silk dresses that will be familiar to Scott’s fans for the way they put the emphasis on the waist, as well as little tops that she paired with silk paneled cardigans and bright pencil skirts with contrasting grosgrain ribbon waistbands. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the American election got her on the propaganda path, but if this was a political collection, it was sweetly so. Pointing out the matching print totes, hats, and shoes and putting on a French accent, she said, “I love a look total.”
—Nicole Phelps

Joseph Altuzarra picked up the Swarovski Award for new design talent at the CFDAs last week, and he earned it all over again with a strong Resort lineup that touched on two developing trends: safari and gypsy. If his breakout Fall collection put the focus on sportswear, the body-defining dress was the beneficiary of his attention this season. Most of them looked as if they were two pieces—a striped chambray tank tucked into an ikat pencil skirt, or a long-sleeved tee with bustier details paired with another slim skirt with an undulating ruffle down its front. All of them were cinched with a belt, some in Rastafarian red, yellow, and green inspired by the new documentary Marley. Altuzarra explained that his clients like the look of an ensemble but appreciate the zip-and-go ease of a single piece. He works harder so they don’t have to.

That’s not to say there weren’t great separates here. A gypsy blouse with sequins down the sleeves and a tweed skirtsuit embroidered with wooden beads both boasted incredible handwork—couture detail but with an artisanal feel. The tailoring was top-notch, too, especially a khaki cape that from the back looked like a sexy structured trench.
—Nicole Phelps

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Nanette Lepore was just honored at Youngstown University’s spring commencement (her alma mater). It had her thinking a lot about her own college days. “I was remembering all of the art students and their influences, like Donald Judd,” she said. Thoughts of Judd’s op art lent themselves nicely to Lepore’s Resort collection—which had her dabbling with geometry and color. Shades of “gumball green,” shocking pink, and deep navy blue made their way into almost every piece, from a sheer fit-and-flare jersey dress with quarter-length sleeves to a cashmere baseball sweater with sporty mesh side panels and piping. “The customer is taking a break from dresses,” she said. “So I figured it would be nice to have pieces that you can take apart and wear two ways.” Case in point: a paisley patterned silk crepe top worn with a cotton skirt of the same print, paired to look like a dress. The same idea carried over to a silk navy and white striped skirt styled with a simple floral top and a wide belt, but the look that stood out the most was a pair of “ink-blot” cropped skinny pants and a vertical-striped chiffon shirt topped with an oversize knit jacket. Her customers won’t miss the dresses.
—Jessica Minkoff

Chloé‘s Clare Waight Keller spoke of a “new romantic feel” for her Resort collection. Cap the N and the R and the comparison would still hold. There’s been a whiff of the eighties about Waight Keller’s Chloé since she took the reins, especially in the exaggerated volumes of her silhouettes, and that continues here. Crisper materials made a counterpoint to the looser shapes—there were acres of crunchy cotton poplin and cotton grosgrain, “keeping the sharpness within,” as Waight Keller said—but overall, the designer emphasized ease. Many of her tops and dresses are basically a single square of fabric—an oversize handkerchief, really—cinched with embroidered waists or belted, obi-style. It’s hard to imagine easier than dungarees, which is just how the designer described her all-in-one of the season, in washed silk georgette. Her “summer shearling” was toweling fabric, stitched into kimono tops or used as paneling on carrot trousers. It looked appealingly graphic when paneled onto those pants, but it might be the place where ease gets too easy.
—Matthew Schneier

An old photo of Hubert de Givenchy’s muse Bettina (she predated Audrey Hepburn) got Riccardo Tisci thinking “gypsy” for Resort. Scarf prints were the collection’s dominant motif, but bohemian this wasn’t. Tisci cut the swirling paisleys in shades of red, blue, and gold with geometric blocks of black and white. If he’s the one who made the fashion world mad for prints, their graphic treatment here puts him ahead of the field once again. The effect was particularly striking on the collection’s opening look, a belted evening dress with long sleeves slit all the way to the shoulders. The capelike look repeated itself on shirts and outerwear, while extended tailcoat details that grazed the ankles on some of the looks likewise added drama.

Tisci’s gypsy theme continued with slouchy-through-the-rear-and-thigh sarouel pants, but again they were paired with tailored button-downs or the boxy, almost architectural T-shaped jackets and tops that have become a house signature. On the phone from Paris—a back-to-back menswear show and haute couture presentation kept him away—he called the look “romantic, but with a sharpness.” We’re hooked.
—Nicole Phelps

Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen have plenty to celebrate coming off their big CFDA coup, but between their winning work for The Row and, count them, 11 deliveries a year for Elizabeth and James, the designing sisters aren’t about to kick back and relax anytime soon. The new Resort collection for their contemporary label is full of Olsen-isms both high and low. The saturated amethyst silk that was used here on a puffy-skirted frock (shown over a crisp bejeweled button-up), for example, also popped up in The Row’s new lineup. At the same time, there were also lots of feminine riffs on menswear suiting, which the girls explained have always been a key factor in the Elizabeth and James success equation. A slouchy white tuxedo jacket came with built-in swaths of silk that mimicked a scarf, while look 18 appeared to be three smartly styled pieces (an oxford with a sheer T-shirt tucked into a pencil skirt) but was actually an all-in-one shirtdress. The younger E+J customer appreciates the effortless appeal of tossing on just one day-to-night piece; she should also be thankful for the Olsens’ steadfast dedication to chic flats like the pointy-toe mule slippers here.
—Brittany Adams

Emilio Pucci‘s New York flagship is scheduled to open in September, followed by a Milan outpost next February, and nine more shops after that. If Peter Dundas’ new Resort collection had a more urban feel than usual, the big retail rollout is why. A global empire isn’t built on beachy caftans alone, though Dundas did show a few beauties in weightless silk, one with insets of delicate lace butterflies and another elaborately embroidered with a dragon. Their accompaniments, grosgrain weave military belts, could start a run on them at surplus stores.

Sporty daywear with a safari/military vibe was the emphasis here, jolted by more than a touch of Dundas’ signature brand of sex appeal. The opening suede shirtdress, for instance, laced provocatively up the sides and a leather dress featured a plunging open-V back, while the knit tanks he paired with slick tailored jackets and cargo pants were daringly sheer. A slim white T-shirt dress stitched with raffia provided a sweet counterpoint. The show’s best look was a peach and army green washed-silk bomber jacket and matching green pencil skirt. It got the sexy-cool combo just right.
—Nicole Phelps

“Beach to night and the seventies” were Peter Copping’s starting points for Resort. His ending point: the sauciest, sexiest Nina Ricci collection he’s done. Little bikinis were the foundation for everything from a bordeaux camisole and slip combo to a lilac cashmere sweater worn with a scuba-fabric skirt to peekaboo lace cocktail dresses. Some of the lace came with stretch built in, which created a relaxed, almost sporty vibe. Continuing in the dressed-down direction, Copping added denim to the lineup—a first for the label. There was an A-line coat finished in black grosgrain, as well as a neat little jacket and a barely-there asymmetric wrap mini that turned to reveal it was actually a pair of shorts. Another clever idea that put the emphasis on ease: a smocked blouse in a micro-print and a matching full skirt. “It’s just smarter to give our girl options,” Copping said.

As deshabille as the mood was, dressing up is and always will be the raison d’être at Ricci. A delicate butterfly print dress with an embroidered white tulle bodice and handkerchief hem drew oohs and ahhs, as did its more dramatic cousin, a long gown in embroidered black tulle.
—Nicole Phelps

Aaron Moran’s reclaimed wood sculptures were the touchstone for Prabal Gurung‘s new collection. They capture, for him, the beautiful decay he witnessed on a recent trip home to Nepal and provided the Rorschach-like motif that’s become a trademark over the last couple of seasons. A jacket, shirt, and shorts combo in the repeating pattern looked familiar, but when the design was reproduced oversize on a simple white shift it felt fresh.

Gurung was at his strongest thinking along similarly reduced lines. A black and white double-layer dress had a graphic punch, as did another A-line frock in blue and tomato red. Those colors turned up again in the knitwear, a growth area for the designer. His pants—a little bit stretchy, slightly flared—do a great business too. For evening, he paired nearly neon silks with nude mesh corsetry details in another nod to Moran’s work. The emphasis here: beauty, plain and simple.
—Nicole Phelps

Three years into her run at Celine, Phoebe Philo has been mainstreamed. Her accessories have become the status symbol for the upwardly mobile woman—you can’t go a block on the Upper East Side without bumping into a Luggage bag. For Resort, she’s introduced two new shapes: the All Soft, a zipless, fold-over tote with a “baby” pouch inside, and the Edge, which as its name implies, has a more structured silhouette.

On the clothes front, this season wasn’t so much a moment to introduce fresh ideas as it was to reassert house signatures. Leather continues to be of paramount importance. It was cut into variegated stripes for t-shirts and used on coats with horizontal panels that unzipped to create different silhouettes. Python featured too, most extravagantly as the patch pockets on a cashmere sweater. And scarf prints also made a reappearance, most interestingly on a pair of shorts and a shell top that were both veiled in a sheer white material.

If there’s a piece that the Philo girl will have to have, it’s the full, flaring trousers with deep stripes of contrasting color at the hem. The cut is great, for one, and two: Those in-the-know will instantly peg them as Celine. For a fashion insider, that produces the same kind of frisson as carrying a Luggage bag does for that Upper East Sider.
—Nicole Phelps

Andy Warhol’s portrait paintings line Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli’s mood board for Resort. The artist’s neon pinks, sky blues, and electric oranges all came together on their show-opening long tulle dress appliquéd with lace flowers, while its silhouette—the high neck, the long sleeves, the full skirt—could’ve belonged to one of his sitters. Nan Kempner, maybe, or Marisa Berenson.

The designers see both the Pop colors and the sixties shapes as antidotes of sorts to our current hard times. The clothes are surely uplifting, not only because they’ve been constructed to be almost weightless, but also because MG and PP are so focused on their clients’ pleasure. The single pantsuit in the collection came in a leopard print, and exquisite guipure lace meant there was little that was workaday about their button-down blouses. Where these clothes will be getting a workout is on the party circuit. One of the first to hit the red carpet will be the black tulle gown with the leather bodice. Warhol, we’ve no doubt, would’ve loved it.
—Nicole Phelps