"I'm not a designer who wants to be in an ivory tower," said Richard Chai in his gallerylike studio. Still, he added, Resort's challenge is to find a way to "make something commercial artful and interesting." He succeeded in doing so by using textural fabrics, applying origami-pattern pieces to neat dresses, and keeping things graphic—and not too sweet—by trimming romantic florals with bands of black. A shorts set and a banded print minidress mixed pretty and cool in the right proportion, and captured the "easy, breezy" feeling Chai was after. With highlights like those, this confident collection should please customers and editors in equal measure.
