Adventures in Sparkles and Ruffles: In Between

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

In Between

When I began exploring my interest in clothing, I was confused by many things. The most significant of these being the existence of only two seasons: Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. There were many months of the year when one could enter a store and see skirts and dresses and suits that had never made their way down a runway. I spent a fair amount of time in those days wondering where all of these magical clothes had come from.

There have always been transitional seasons. Pre-Fall. Pre-Spring. Holiday. But during the middle portion of this decade, more and more designers began having presentations and shows for these smaller but just as significant collections. And it was while browsing through those pictures on Style.com that I was finally able to answer my question and fill that gap in my education.

Resort is probably the hardest of these smaller seasons to grasp when one considers its name and the time period in which it is supposed to be worn. There was a time when those with extreme wealth spent large swaths of the traditionally winter months traveling to far steamier climes. And, of course, a new set of clothes would be needed for these jaunts. For some these times still exist. But for most the winter is spent traversing frozen streets and watching ice melter ruin the leather of her pretty equestrian boots. (I might have personal experience with this.)

You can see Resort's origins littered throughout the collections for 2010. Some designers rely more on that past than others. But for many it has become a way to continue thoughts first seen in the Fall/Winter shows. Or to test out ideas that will become fully realized in the Spring/Summer shows in September. Some designers have managed to do all of these things at once, deftly navigating the many possibilities of an ever changing season. Mixing the more traditional and the less traditional.

And using those endpoints is the easiest way to organize my favorites.

The Less

Christopher Kane