Resort 2013 - The Season of Silhouettes

This resort season wasn't exactly what I was expecting. While I was expecting designers to play with patterns and textures (which they still did), many of them seem to be playing with silhouettes in fun, exciting ways.

Marc Jacobs

All Photos from Style.com

Marc took inspiration from Cindy Sherman's clown series, which, at first, seems like an odd place to take fashion inspiration from. Well, not just at first, it still seems very odd. The results are mixed, I'm not the biggest fan of the color palette (every color ever), but there were some pieces I loved. But I'm here for the silhouettes. Marc really played with different shapes this season - long tops over enormous, clown-like pants, lots of big skirts (though big seems like a too-gentle term to describe some of them), cap sleeves gone crazy, and long, rectangular dresses. The collection feels like a continuation from his Dr. Seuss-like Fall collection. It seems as if Marc Jacobs is having a lot of fun with his designs lately, and he doesn't want to leave any silhouette out.

Balenciaga

This collection was all about the mix of hard and soft. Light pastels with black accents, a flowing cream-colored dress with a leather halter, skirts that can only be described as "flouncy" with a form-fitting top, a light skirt with a highly structured jacket. This led to some very interesting designs and some really different shapes for looks. Nicolas Ghesquière has moved the peplum down from the waist and gave skirts a turn-up at the bottom (I've never been a peplum's biggest fan, I'm so excited about this) which adds to the skirt's interest, and, frankly, is just fun and adorable. The structured-sleeve jacket is something we saw a lot in the fall shows, and Ghesquière is continuing that, and doing so in different ways. The third looks above shows he has created the incredibly structured arm with a soft fabric - an unexpected juxtaposition that gives the arm and the entire look a new silhouette. The entire collection with filled with looks like that, introducing new silhouettes by altering old ones - the turned up skirt, the cropped, structured-sleeve jacket, structure with light materials, and, in that last look above, an oversized, light top with structured ruffles on the sides. By playing with old silhouettes and combining hard and soft materials, Balenciaga turned out an incredibly exciting resort collection.

Lanvin

Alber Elbaz followed his out-of-control-amazing Fall collection with this equally great Resort line. Elbaz did what he does best - highly creative designs and lots of dark colors and gilded touches. He also continued this mini-trend of silhouette play. Big, protruding shorts (first look on the left) and voluminous short sleeves (second look) mirror what Marc Jacobs showed. Then several of the looks had rectangular silhouettes, similar to ones shown both in Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga, but of course done in a way only Lanvin could do - a long square snakeskin jacket, and a flowing red dress with a square back. If the Lanvin resort collection is any indication of where fashion is heading soon, it is all about being bold with dark colors and materials.

Derek Lam

Derek Lam's resort collection is mostly full of neutrals, with lots of light blue and some bright reds. Along with that, there were a lot of rectangular silhouettes (the first two looks above), usually with some sort of twist - the undone light blue jacket in the first (kind of really amazing, turning boxy into sexy), and the wider bottom of the white jacket in the second. Again, he showed several exaggerated skirts, which I am such a fan of. And of course there were military details in almost every look in the line, because of course!


The consensus: Big sleeves, enormous skirts, and just new shapes and silhouettes