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

Resort 2013

DKNY

I feel very mixed about this collection. A lot of the individual pieces were great, especially the maroon blazer on the far left, the leather jacket in the third look above (leather is hard for me to ignore), and the contrast leather sleeve trench (again, leather is everything to me). My main problem with this collection is the styling. Much of it is fine, but many of the looks are styled so that there are several visible hemlines of shirts and tops. Like, lets tuck some shirts in! And black tights just feel too UES for the look of the clothes. But, that being said, the maroon that was central to many looks is just great.

Erdem

You're going to have to excuse me for a hot second, I'm currently dying over these patterns! It's like Erdem put the best prints from the fall collections on crack and acid. Every looks is overwhelming in the best possible way. I cannot wait to see what the shoes look like up close. Both Erdem and DKNY continued the fall trend of bright colors in cooler, darker hues.

Just Cavalli

This collection was kind of a hot mess. It was a mix of some pieces that I loved with a bunch of pieces I hated and lots of pieces that felt too familiar to other collections. Lets start with the pieces I loved. The white leather jacket killed me, as did the white crocodile-skin pieces (jacket and pants shown above) in the collection. The floral blazer shows on the right is also so good. It’s hard for me not to fall in love with a fun printed blazer. A large amount of the collection reminded me too much of other designer’s work though, especially the look on the left above (Versace, particularly their collection for H&M) and the looks with symmetrical floral patterns (Givenchy). All in all, I wasn’t the biggest fan of this collection, though some pieces stood out from the rest.

Oscar de la Renta

What to even say? This was Resort perfection. Amazing colors, amazing patterns, amazing textures, amazing Oscar. The collection moved from black and white to a parade of colors. Most dresses featured either a floral pattern or texture or a checked pattern like gingham. The way Oscar translated floral patterns into textures on the dresses was unreal. Then the green dress that looks like a flower itself…What even? The dresses shown in this collection show that floral can and should be taken to new dimensions. Hopefully we will see more of this in the spring shows. 

Resort 2013

All Photos from Style.com

Bottega Veneta
This is how women everywhere should dress on vacation. Colors. Patterns. Light and tailored. Giant coats over swimsuits. Need I say more?
Seriously though, I cannot get enough of this collection. The monochrome suits (including the yellow jumpsuit/coat combo above) show the next logical step for fashion to take after all this colorblocking -- a hint of whats to come with spring 13? Then all the pencil skirts! I'm dying.
The bags! Lets talk about the bags for a hot second. Usually I'm not the biggest fan of big, slouchy bags, but I'll make an exception for Bottega. Some of the bags border on being called enormous and you could probably fit your entire vacay inside them. (Letsbehonest thats not gonna happen. You need several options for what to wear every day! Several suitcases are absolutely necessary for any trip).

I'm obsessed with the blue floral dress. The way the neckline connects with the skirt is too good. The collection is full of nods to the 50s with pencil skirts or cap-sleeves, and pastels. Then came the sleek, edgy last looks. The colors became darker and instead of cute pumps, models wore black strappy, sexy sandals. A great shoe for a night out, and clothes to match.
Women everywhere: Base your next vacation wardrobe after this collection. It'll take you from a day at the beach to a fancy dinner to a night out.

Chanel
Karl Lagerfeld's Resort 2013 line really caught me off-guard. Resort is usually much more wearable than Fall and Spring, yet, in terms of wearability, this felt more like a Spring collection. My favorite pieces, shown above and below, are some of the more wearable looks.
That said, the clothes were stunning. Karl beautifully combined eighteenth-century details with modern silhouettes, fabrics, and colors. The colors and shapes of the clothes referred back to the Spring show - my favorite Chanel show in a while - so I could not be happier about that. And I love it when Karl Lagerfeld works with color (The almost tye-dye dress below -- Dying over it).

My one problem is the inclusion of creepers throughout the whole collection. Maybe it's because I'm a firm believer that every woman looks better with 5-7 inches of height, but I feel like the looks would have been better suited with a heel or espadrille. Oh well, they were still amazing.
These last two looks I picked out though. Absolutely flawless. The floral skirt with gold and a frilly top? Blue baroque embroidered designs on an exaggerated shape dress? Unreal. I just cannot even with how Karl Lagerfeld is able to seamlessly combine eighteenth-century and modern fashions.