The Moment: Music was on the minds of fashion designers as the resort season presentations carried on this week.
Chloé’s Clare Waight Keller was thinking of Brian Eno, and “clothes for the stage,” when creating her light-as-air looks, with breezily ruched dresses in pale neutrals, ultra-wide chambray trousers and even a bit of leopard print (a standout from the coats of her fall collection of 2014, now featured on a dress of a papery thin fabric). The delight of her resort presentation was its range, from those lightweight pieces to a few heavier looks, like a thick hand-knit sweater comprised of all the colors of the collection (pictured, above, from L-R).
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Francisco Costa, the women’s creative director at Calvin Klein, also showed a lovely range of styles – a sort of minimalist’s tour of American fashion history – styled with athletic stripes and a provocative print courtesy of the artist Alice Lancaster. The shapes were terrific, combining a knit tank dress over a skirt that grew larger below the knees, or a black leather wrap dress that might have started its life as a motorcycle jacket (pictured, below).
Victoria Beckham, now that she has a flagship in London, has been attuned to her customers’ needs of late, and responded with some superb woven pieces – red geometric separates (trousers, a tunic, a double-breasted jacket) – that played well together or apart, and will stand up to the test of long-haul travel. Her ivory linen trench coat was gorgeous, though that might get a few wrinkles on an overnight flight. She also showed her playful side with a sweet print of overlapping red hearts, on totes and a billowing tank dress (all pictured, below, from L-R).
Why It’s a Wow: Resort is a hectic season for editors – we dashed uptown to see Ralph Lauren’s snazzy treatment of beige (a suede blouse with a precisely cut skirt could be the uniform of the season, pictured, below left) and his black denim evening dresses (engineered to make a casual fabric look quite polished). Then, it was to midtown for Zac Posen’s energetic take on men’s tailoring, which resulted in one architectural gown stiff enough to serve as an ironing board, but also some floaty dresses that inspired the models to spin around and show them off (pictured, below from middle).
But wait, there’s more! This is just the mid-way point in the season, but the clothes have been great so far. Stay tuned next week for collections from Stella McCartney, Lanvin, Jason Wu, and more.
Learn More: Take a look through some of our favorite resort collections thus far, including Alessandro Michele’s big statement from Thursday.
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In this weekly feature, InStyle’s fashion news director Eric Wilson shares his favorite fashion moment of the week, and explains how it could shape styles to come. Look for it on What’s Right Now every Friday.