Donna Karan's Resort 2013 offering for DKNY was a meditation in contrasts that played tough leather against demure silks. Simple t-shirts in delicate pastel tones punctuated the virility of cowhide pants, and a classic trench coat got a timely update with leather sleeves. Karan's Holiday collection, presented in conjunction with Resort, showed an implicit version of the same edge, using zebra prints and bold colors to make powerful statements.
Whimsy was the word at Oscar de la Renta's Resort 2013 show Monday evening, where the designer presented a diverse collection underpinned at all points by an easy, colorful elegance.
Looks ranged from de la Renta's customarily luxurious suits to shirts, jackets, and dresses featuring fresh new floral prints. Close-up images of irises and carnations played well with embroidered tulips. Many accessories were rendered in shades of ripe produce: lemon-colored belts, for example, and green apple earrings were the finishing touches on a few looks. And if the multiple suggestions of floral beauty weren't a sufficient indicator that these clothes are intended for a relaxing break from everyday life, tulle and organza dresses embroidered with a gingham pattern playfully suggested going for a picnic.
The offering was grown-up and girlish, mature and youthful all at once. That idea couldn't be stressed any clearer than in a sequined baseball shirt (already for sale online), paired with a tea-length white-and-green skirt that came down the runway toward the end of the show.
Photos Courtesy of Oscar de la Renta.
Oscar de la Renta's Resort 2013 collection offered up a plethora of plush, picnic-ready looks for sunny days ahead. And while you may have pastoral images of lazy lawn spreads and fruit-filled wicker baskets in mind, this country-chic girl wears her gingham prints in luxe satins and silks. The iconic designer presented a cool mix of traditionally sleek looks — black-and-white short suits, apple red tea party frocks, and bright peplum tops — along with quirkier pieces, like a silk and sequined baseball t-shirt paired up with a decadent gingham ball skirt. If the more daytime-friendly wares don't inspire dreams of frolicking in a manicured meadow, then de la Renta's signature frothy gowns will certainly transport you to an evening under the stars in the French Riviera. Above all, this is an ultrafresh lineup with classic and cool-girl appeal. To see every Resort '13 look, just keep clicking.
A seasonless assortment of grown-up separates in fluid silhouettes were the touchpoints of Tomas Maier's appealing Resort 2013 collection for Bottega Veneta. The designer looked to art, and particularly the frescoes of Tiepolo and Veronese, for a faded bouquet palette of butter yellow, pale peach, and pistachio, working each hue into powerful head-to-toe monochrome looks — complete with matching shoes and bags.
To capitalize on the season's long selling period — and to capture its neither-here-nor-there transitional spirit — pieces came in light fabrics such as viscose jersey and superfine cashmere, but were styled in lean, ultra-functional layers. Bags — a hallmark for the brand — embodied this same sense of innovative practicality: in addition to leather, the season's intrecciato clutches, satchels, and totes came woven in rubber, metal, and Japanese paper.
Versailles's fabled gardens played host today not just to Chanel's Resort 2013 show, but also to a crowd of well-heeled, Chanel-clad guests. Tilda Swinton — ever the embodiment of androgynous cool — chatted with Haider Ackermann in a calf-length military coat cut from the house's signature nubby tweed. Alice Dellal perched front row in a demure ruffle-embroidered sheath, while Vanessa Paradis was the picture of Spring in a sparkly, printed dress, and Laura Bailey channeled a modern-day Coco in an ivory ensemble. Even Karl Lagerfeld stepped it up for the occasion: the Kaiser traded in his usual button-up for a checkered shirt-and-tie combo.
With beauty marks shaped like the famous double-C logo affixed to their cheekbones, a bevy of models strolled through the gardens at Versailles to present Chanel's Resort 2013 collection.
The rococo embellishments on many of the garments Karl Lagerfeld sent down the runway made it impossible to imagine him showing the collection anywhere else. Floral embroidery accented modernized versions of what French nobles wore to the court of Louis XVI, and many of the looks were paired with pastel-colored flatforms. Derek Blasberg likened the looks to "Marie Antoinette in denim" — an apt description indeed. The monarch wouldn't have looked totally out of place in one of Lagerfeld's denim vests — trimmed as they were, of course, in gold rope.
>> Karl Lagerfeld has chosen the gardens at the Palace of Versailles as the stage for his next big production: the Chanel Resort 2013 collection.
The show will be presented on May 14, but other details are still under wraps. Past Chanel Resort shows have been presented in St. Tropez, Los Angeles, and along the French Riviera, and their locations usually speak to the theme of the collection. At Versailles — where the French royal family ruled in extravagance for 100 years before the French Revolution — the only theme that comes to mind is sheer excess.
This isn't the first time Versailles has been used for a show. In 2007, John Galliano rented out the palace for Dior's 60th anniversary couture show, and in 1973, Anne Klein, Stephen Burrows, Halston, Bill Blass, and Oscar de la Renta faced off against couturiers Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Cardin, and Emanuel Ungaro in a runway spectacle that became known as the Battle of Versailles.
Whether Chanel creates a tribute to Marie Antoinette along the Royal Pathway or shows a decadent collection dripping with diamonds by the Grand Canal, living up to past fashion shows at Versailles will be a tall order — but if anyone is up to the task, it's definitely Lagerfeld. The set for his Spring 2011 Chanel show was based on Versailles's extensive gardens, and he's shot numerous fashion editorials at the palace over the years. Click through to see some of those — along with other Versailles-set shoots — here, in the gallery.
