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Over the last few weeks, brands, editors, and buyers have taken part in a more diffuse version of Fashion Week: designers’ resort presentations.
At first glance, resort (a.k.a. cruise) seems limited in its applications. Is it vacation-wear? What if I don’t like caftans? What if the idea of going on a Carnival cruise terrifies me? I have seen Titanic.
Ignore the name. Though resort initially targeted wealthy women shopping for mid-winter vacations, these days it’s a play to offer shoppers more fresh product throughout the year. (Fast fashion brands’ dedication to constant newness has us trained well.) Also called cruise collections, they start to ship to retailers at the end of October and hit in full in November or December, remaining on the sales floor until May or June.
Because it sits in stores at full price for so long, resort is a crucial collection for brands’ and stores’ businesses. The clothes tend to be more transitional, too, including both lighter styles and pieces better suited for the cold.
While the temperatures resort covers are highly variable, the trends this time around were not.
From Fendi to Kate Spade and Alice and Olivia to Altuzarra, designer after designer hit on the same notes for resort 2017. This fall, you’re going to be seeing a lot of flared pants and trousers with massively wide legs. Billowing sleeves. Bell sleeves.
There are so, so many ruffles. On tiered skirts, like the one you purchased from Limited Too in the mid-00s, creeping all the way up to your the neck.
Cool Girl minimalism remains — there are still plenty of simple slip dresses to be had — but it’s been overtaken by a more unapologetic romanticism. Blame Alessandro Michele’s lush, exuberant Gucci for that. He definitely led the charge on the ruffle front.
Off-the-shoulder tops show no signs of flagging. Slim bomber jackets are basically a staple category at this point, like a trench coat or a little black dress.
While there were some original thinkers, like Marc Jacobs and his acid-washed, ’80s-leaning collection and Nicolas Ghesquière with his futuristic vision for Louis Vuitton, the collections were for the most part strikingly similar to one another. And really, you can’t blame them. In a season as explicitly designed for retail as resort is, why not play to trends as aggressively as you can?
So on that note, here’s a little taste of what’s to come.
Ruffles
Horizontal tiers of ruffles were, to say the least, everywhere: Giambattista Valli, Carven, Cynthia Rowley, Erdem, MSGM, Mother of Pearl, Nina Ricci, Prabal Gurung. Do we need to go on?
Bonus ruffle: neckline ruffles
Once you’ve mastered body ruffles, advance to the neck.
Flares
From full ’70s-style bellbottoms to cropped trousers with more of a restrained kick, flares are alive and well for resort 2017.
Bell sleeves
Bellbottoms, but for your arms.
Pants large enough to swallow your fears
Self-explanatory. An obvious buy.