Preen jumped from channeling Beatrix Potter for Fall to Jeff Koons for Resort. That's the kind of left-field leap you imagine Koons himself would appreciate. Actually, the distance between them isn't as far as one might think. The natural English flowers that decorated Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi's Fall prints simply morphed into plastic-fantastic, joyfully fake blooms inspired by those that Koons creates. They gave up all pretenses of naturalism—indeed, many of the prints puddled around the hems into graphic streaks of pure, painterly color. The scale was juiced, too: Their oversized poppy and hydrangea prints, splayed on simple day dresses, pencil skirts, and cropped sweatshirts, were positively steroidal. But because Thornton and Bregazzi leavened the bombast with moments of calm—like the plain crepe back on a print-front dress—they got a lot of mileage out of going faux. Peter Rabbit might've run scared, but shoppers shouldn't. More flower, more power.
