The Heights

After spending all of my life somewhere on the tall spectrum, I’ve settled rather comfortably into the medium tall range of which the perks include having pants always hit me in just the right spot and being able to reach most tall shelves. For this reason, and because of The Legs, I rarely need to wear heels. But most heels aren’t about necessity. I own several pairs of course. Mary Janes. Espadrilles. Wedges. Stilettos that were not made to be worn on the brick sidewalks of the South End or, previously, on the gravel paths of my college campus.

Yet even when I feel the urge to put them on, I turn instead to the flats strewn about my room. I’ve stopped wearing heels during job interviews. Instead I pair my black suiting dress with black ballet flats and call it a day.

The reality of my life might have something to do with my devotion to the ballet flat. When I’m at work, I’m always on my feet. When I’m not, I’m walking everywhere. Over various bridges to Cambridge. Down to Fort Point Channel. Around Jamaica Pond. I balance my late 20s obsession with all things mini by wearing shoes that keep me close to the ground and keep my outfits sweetly sexy.

But heels of all types are, after dresses and boys and the perfect job, the things that I most often daydream about. I can lose hours in the archives of Tommy Ton's Jak & Jil street style blog. When I wander through shoe departments, I construct elaborate outfits from the bottom up. I’ve been having recurring fantasies about Manolo Blahnik mary janes in colors and prints that it doesn’t come in this season like leopard and red patent leather. And even though I should probably start by simply wearing the shoes that I already own, I can’t help lusting after a number of pairs.

From the twisted classic

Lanvin

Givenchy

Christian Louboutin

To the candy bright

Miu Miu

Alexander McQueen

To the sky high

Jimmy Choo

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Metamorphosis

Resort has shed any semblance of being a forgotten, in between season participated in by those few who could afford the cost of presentations or full runway shows. It now stretches more than four weeks. Chanel has spent the past few years turning their Resort show into fantasy trips for those invited. Some bring their wares across the Atlantic from London and Paris and Milan to present their collections multiple times to groups of editors and buyers and tastemakers. While others, mainly younger lines, have found new and inventive ways to present their art to the masses.



Prabal Gurung Resort 2012 Film Featuring Rye Rye

And with all of that expansion, the history that led to the naming of the season has begun to experience its last life breaths. Many designers have taken to calling the season Pre-Spring, freeing them of any of the season’s past associations and opening the floodgates to inspiration from all corners.

Yet pieces from that past still hang in the air.

At Chanel

At Elie Tahari

At Alice & Olivia

At Christian Dior

At BCBG Max Azria

But for the most part, Resort has transformed into a season more like Pre-Fall, a combination of what was there before and what is to come. From the Fall/Winter season, two trends continued to exhibit a particularly strong hold.

Colorblocking has lasted longer as a trend than any I can think of in recent memory. And throughout the Resort collections, there was no sign of its domination abating.

At DKNY

At Rachel Roy

At Gucci

At Pedro Lourenço

At Stella McCartney

The bright reds that added a pop to the Fall/Winter season in order to act against the dreariness of the cold winter months continued to litter the collections.

At Gucci

At Elie Tahari

At Preen

At Yigal Azrouël

At Ohne Titel

And again, like Pre-Fall, there was a return to the staples that return simply because of the change of seasons. For this Resort season, that role was played by stripes of the maritime variety.

At Organic by John Patrick

At The Row

At Moschino Cheap And Chic

At Philosophy

At Rachel Roy

But mostly there seemed a move towards the overtly feminine. Lace adorned everything from sleeves to entire dresses often without the usual underpinnings.

At Rachel Comey

At Peter Som

At Jason Wu

At Jonathan Saunders

At Erdem

At Prada

Flirty polka dots adorned sweaters and skirts and dresses of all sorts.

At Fendi

At Marc by Marc Jacobs

At Jill Stuart

At Oscar de la Renta

The color story seemed to be one of sherberts. Of sweetness and lightness and joy.

At Michael Kors

At Prabal Gurung

At Roksanda Ilincic

At A.L.C.

At Peter Jensen

At Burberry Prorsum

It's not a surprising reaction to the continued uncertainty that seems to cast its shadow over everything at the moment. And one that I expect we'll see in the coming Spring/Summer 2012 shows.


Photos via

Winks

One of the highlights of the Fall/Winter 2011 season was the kink-laced Louis Vuitton collection filled with glamorous cuffs that secured the girls to their clutches, miniature masks that sat atop all of their heads and a feather duster one girl held (almost) daintily behind her back.

For Resort 2012, the Louis Vuitton girl was ready for a vacation. Overnight bag and towel and swimsuit were all at the ready.

As well as a cocktail dress for nights on the town.

A shorts suit.

And a day dress that fell below the knees.

Yet when one examined everything more closely, the elements that were so prevalent in the fall collection still hung in the air. The cocktail dress was accented with shots of leather. The shorts suit was made of a royal blue lace that left one with a hazy picture of what lived underneath. The lattice-like weaving of the day dress revealed patches of skin to the observant eye.

It was, as Resort so often is, a compromise and a bridge.


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