Resort 2022

Stay Realistic. Proenza Schouler Resort 2022

| Design & Culture by Ed

While nearly every single designer is musing on re-emerging and dressing up again as more and more people get vaccinated, the Proenza Schouler boys rather stay realistic. Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough aren’t buying the roaring twenties, at least for the moment. “You want to hold onto some of that ease, some of that comfort, some of that intimacy that you had with the pandemic,” Hernandez told Vogue. “But then you want to introduce things that feel a little bit more nipped, more tucked, something a little bit more tailored.” They’re emphasizing knits in the form of ribbed tanks and pull-on pants that puddle at the ankles, and their high-buttoning jackets are made to be as easy-wearing as cardigans. Silhouettes are grounded by flat shoes, either fuzzy house slippers or thick-soled, heavy-tread boots of the sort that have recently been trending. The nipping and tucking Hernandez talked about was achieved in a couple different ways: a top and pants in oversized proportions were swaddled at the waist and fixed with a gold pin, while tunic-length bouclé tweed tops were slightly peplumed at the hips, creating a New Look-ish line that they kept modern by layering leather shorts and those big boots underneath. The clearest sign of the change to come, once we get past the pandemic, might be a chunky knit sweater and matching skirt combo that stands out not just for its eye-catching shade of marigold but also for the fresh mini-length of its skirt. I kind of wish there was more of that boldness in the designers’ latest offerings. Still, in its leggy, unencumbered attitude it looks like a compelling direction for the duo.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Force of Nature. Gabriela Hearst Resort 2022

| Design & Culture by Ed

Gabriela Hearst took on the creative director duties of Chloé in December and has been shuttling between New York and Paris ever since. Resort 2022 is the first full season at her name-sake label she completed after the appointment, and she confessed she was concerned about pulling it together. But as time shows, she needn’t have worried – this woman is a force of nature. The 38-look lineup, which includes some men’s pieces, appears anything but dashed off. Hearst is making some of New York’s most finely wrought clothes: a double-face cashmere coat finished with a hem of sacred geometry lace, a dress embellished at the neckline with colorful agates left over from her pandemic-interrupted spring collection, a long linen shift with macramé chakanas inset at the chakras, a leather coat in earthy tones assembled like marquetry, and cashmere intarsia sweaters with famous North and South American sites from Yellowstone to Machu Picchu. Those are just the more obvious details. Meanwhile, her efforts around sustainability are ongoing. A jean jacket and its matching flares were patchworked in a rainbow of four different shades of deadstock denim. The collection is 49% upcycled or deadstock material, close to her stated goal of 50% for 2021. The biggest advances might be in her footwear. Sandals with deep cork beds are a guaranteed hit – the cork is harvested without cutting down trees and it can biodegrade. There are also boots made with natural rubber soles and espadrille flatforms built on a base of algae-derived foam that cuts down on plastic. Hearst emphasizes the couture-level embellishments and the nitty-gritty of responsible design with the same enthusiasm. But she’s most passionate about her many collaborators, from her daughter Mia, who painted the rainbow eyes that appear on some silk separates, to the New York artisans whose workmanship on the collection’s macramé-inset shifts she says rivals anything in Paris.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Solar Power. Etro Resort 2022

| Design & Culture by Ed

Etro‘s resort 2022 has that solar power (yes, I love the new Lorde song). If you’re looking for the summer-perfect wardrobe for post-confinement life full of sunny adventures with friends, breezy beach walks and getting in the groove at concert festivals, this collection is it. “My father Gimmo founded the house of Etro in 1968, so we as a company were born at a time of barricades and youth revolution,” Veronica Etro told Vogue. “As much as we value tradition, there’s a rebellious spirit which runs in our family, a flair for adventure, open-mindedness, and eccentricity.” It’s a mindset she’s been making good use of lately, steering the label on a stronger, younger course. And it works. Special stand-alone items like intarsia-ed ponchos, embellished waistcoats, richly embroidered miniskirts, and fringed blanket skirts were combined with easy wardrobe staples rendered à la Etro. Less bohemian and more concise than usual, the everyday offer comprised a series of gender-fluid shirts, tunics, oversized blazers, and pajama suits that emphasize the masculine/feminine synergy and code-swapping going on between the Etro siblings. Paisley patterns got a punk-ish treatment with skulls, snakes, and safety pins; prints were bolder and used in patches on nylon anoraks and quilted indigo denim sets; and skintight black leather pants and zippered jackets were intended as a nod to biker subcultures. “After celebrating Etro’s 50th birthday in 2018 I wanted to turn the page,” said Veronica. “We’re building a new following of young customers who are asking for a stronger twist on our traditional style. The pandemic has taught us to not be afraid, to enjoy taking risks and to embrace change. It isn’t time to hold on to our comfort zone.”

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.

New Yorkers. Batsheva Resort 2022

| Design & Culture by Ed

Batsheva‘s resort 2022 is a love letter to New Yorkers, all of it photographed on and worn by the beautiful locals. With her photographer husband, Alexei Hay, she set up a booth in Washington Square Park and recruited people in the area to change into her spring offering and model it spontaneously. One went full Dovima in a strapless ’50s-style golden gown and kitten heels. Another just tossed an ivory dress coat over their regular clothes, coffee cup in hand. There are teen goths, lovers, sisters, NYU graduates, and passersby smiling throughout the look book, a total celebration of New York back in action. The breadth of this season’s offering is as diverse as the people in the clothes: a skateboarder wears a roomy midi-housedress in a hologram print. Best friends sport a shapeless glittery dress inspired by a traditional Hasidic style and burnout velvet pants. A roller skater chose practical black-and-white ruffles while a pair of sisters model crochet tops and skirts. This is probably as close as we’ll get to “probably back to normal” this summer – and it looks great. And what’s new in the designer’s gradually-evolving dictionary? On a basic level, school clothes make sense as an inspiration for Batsheva Hay – and not just for their sweetness. She started her brand as a young mother, aiming to make funny dresses that work for working moms. Now her daughter, Ruth, is well into elementary school with a uniform of a pinafore, shirt, and cardigan. Hay has sized up each of these to an adult scale and rendered them in shades of neon yellow, brown, and cherry red, adding rosettes to the boxy sweaters.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Sustainable Thinking. Chloé Resort 2022

| Design & Culture by Ed

Gabriela Hearst delves deeper into the sustainable achievements of her Chloé residency, and it looks beautiful. Although I was not in love with Gabriela Hearst’s debut collection for Chloé, her next steps at the Parisian maison are promising. First, the direction of the brand’s Instagram, which is all about Zoë Ghertner’s raw, yet sensual photos of nature and female bodies – no aggressive product placement, no logo rebrandings, just idyllic visuals featuring poetic musings in the captions. Second, the resort 2022, which is a far better image of what Hearst vision for the brand really is. “We’re here on a mission,” she told Vogue, listing the impressive measures the house is taking to make its collections sustainable. If you came for the romantic mood boards and the classic tales of trips to the archive, this wasn’t it. “I haven’t gone to the archive,” Hearst said. “I feel like I’ve loved Chloé for so long and I have this idea of what it looks like. It’s not that I don’t respect what’s been done in its history, but I want the representation of what Chloé means to me to come out first.” Instead, the collection was an accelerated exercise in what we might discover to be our post-pandemic fashion mindset: What you wear is only as good as its social and environmental footprint. “We can’t deny what we went through on a global scale. Things are going to be different,” she said, referring to a cataclysmic year that shifted our understanding of environmental impact and made companies like Chloé – already on a sustainable path before her arrival – look to eco-conscious figureheads like Hearst. “Each collection is an opportunity to do it better,” she said. “I already did the least sustainable thing you can do, which is to have three kids.” In spirit, her proposal was geared toward those kids: the next-generation mentality Hearst says can’t come quickly enough. “We need to move out of the way and let them take over. They’re wired in a different way. They have a different perception.” In design, the collection’s Chloé-revering bohemian pragmatism reached out to generations somewhat older. Puritan-ish dresses were constructed in circular deadstock denim – with no metal, laser treatment instead of water, and recycled wood buttons – scalloped leather, and deadstock broderie anglaise. Linen trench coats trimmed with embroidered white edges demonstrated how Hearst might see a classic wardrobe staple through the instinctive Chloé lens she talks about. Blanket coats and fringed hand-spun dresses riffed on the hippie-esque references we historically relate to an eco-friendly wardrobe – not one for a cliché, Hearst likened them to techno dance parties. “Rave against the machine,” she punned, showing off a matching multi-color debut Chloé sneaker defined by its great, big stitches, every component created from recycled material. “I’m really attracted to product that feels handmade. I want to feel like a human worked on it.”

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.