I never knew what resort collections were for before I wrote this post. In a way, I always thought a resort collection was for the transition between fall and spring. Wikipedia states that it was originally meant for wealthy customers vacationing in the mediterranean (or wherever warm) during winter, but somehow this changed in the recent years. The May issue of Vogue writes that "the fashion seasons have become so out of sync with the season we're actually living", that in winter, you wouldn't be able to find a fur coat in stores but only bikinis and shorts." But essentially, as Vogue writes, "pre-fall and resort collections are now worth about 70 percent of a retailer's budget, the main lines just 30 percent. That's why pre-fall (and also Resort collections) are so powerful, they have a longer selling period before the season sales start as compared to the Spring and Fall lines." It's just for commercial sake, that's what most people say.
So enough about marketing strategy and economics, it's throwing my brain into a dizzy funk, and aren't resort collections supposed to be pretty and pretty and pretty and pretty and relaxing and stuff.
Thakoon
Can we start with Thakoon please, because it is the first resort collection I really loved. The starting point for the whole collection was photographer Malick Sidibe's portraits of African youths in the 1960s and in fact, the whole lookbook was made to look like the original photos. Which meant, yeah a photoshoot, but a photoshoot with the white cloth background visible and just looking very raw and maybe less scripted (though it's obvious Thakoon wanted it to look like this). Everything was perfect right down to the blue purple pink hair, to the use of seemingly random props like a plastic bag or a puppy on leash. The prints were simple, which reminded me of Louis Vuitton SS10 but of slightly watered-down patterns, the construction of the clothes were deceptively simple. And I place the utmost emphasis on the word deceptively. The jagged edges of the dress above do remind me of those found on cardboard and if meant to be so, the use of a plastic bag as a prop would just be sheer genius. The massive pleats, or that's what I can make up of, on the other dress are also quite amazing, somewhat giving the waistline a sculpted 3-dimensional volume (if you get what I mean). My favourite would have to be the one on the right. The whole mish-mash hair situation there is indeed quite mind-blowing, and so are the 90s nerd glasses (THE NERDS ARE BACK!), and the skirt length is pretty much very perfect.
While one part of the collection focused on the use of prints and colors, the other half centered around the use of sheer whites, which was light and frothy and just too fresh, which I think I'm comparing it to coffee foam. And that's pretty apt because that's how resort collections should be like in my book.
Stella McCartney
What can I say, I was never a Stella McCartney fan. Until this collection came along and I've been a McCartney convert ever since. There was the feminine, beautiful, girly frocks and there was the masculine quality in the suits but there was that feminity in that masculinity. Stella McCartney can do no wrong with a suit, and I've always had something for women in a jacket and pants. In this case they are just about the only thing, with the exception of Freja Beha Erichsen of course, that can make any straight woman be confused about her sexuality. There was also that attention to details in Stella McCartney's super sharp suits that you would find most common in menswear: the use of suspenders gave it a nice classic touch, and the slightest detail of polka dots on the pants, are exactly what make menswear so attractive.
Then there were the floral prints, if there isn't anything more spring/summer/resort-y than that. But technically it should be called floral paintings rather than floral prints, because these massive illustrations were unabashedly all over, making the lovely frocks a camouflage gear for an ambush among garden fields. Now wouldn't that be rad for a summer sport. And that blue floral laced dress that Tommy Ton took up close, I DIE!
Proenza Schouler
Hmm...what can I say about the Proenza Schouler collection? Ethnic, tribal, nah that would be too kitschy, too Elle/Marie Claire-ish. So how should I put in a much more glamorised and sophisticated way (only befitting of Proenza Schouler ever since they became the kings of New York)? Let me sum it up for you, it was PRINT-EXPLOSION IN THE UTMOST CRAZIEST POSSIBLE WAY, AND OH-EM-GEE DID YOU SEE THOSE SHOES AND EVERYTHING! And the MODELS, can we please discuss the use of models here? How is that Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez always get the models right, I am Team Sun FeiFei (the best asian thing to come along ever since instant noodles and Hyoni Kang and Liu Wen) and Kate Kosushkina all right!
Moving on, Proenza Schouler felt very put together, the layers coming on top of another was quite perfect, especially the long sleeved t-shirt over a bibbed-sweater/dress combination. As Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez had put it "Resort is about real clothes for our friends. There's something about reality that feels fresh right now." And so there came the lovely frocks, but much more attention was paid to the fabrics than before: the textures and the embroideries; the metallics and the prints, were inspired by their trip to India. My personal favourite was the Baja hoodie over a long sleeved t-shirt that Sun FeiFei was wearing. I am not really a fan of street-wear but this was so cool and so slouchy, somehow perfect for hippie days during late fall or early spring. The open-toed sandals here are also too sicccckkkkkkk, even though it would be even more PERFECT if they were in heels. So, are you dying already?
pictures are via style.com and streetpeeper.com
