Cushnie et Ochs attended their first-ever CFDA Awards this week, and did so as first-time nominees. They've had an admirable consistency throughout their career, and it's safe to say the industry is now paying attention. On Monday evening, it was hard not to: Cushnie and Ochs are two of their own best advertisements, and all eyes were on them in their red and citron-yellow cutout gowns. That they could stand shoulder to shoulder with Karlie Kloss, in one of their own patent-leather-accented navy gowns, is saying something.
Now is probably not the time to stray from the tried-and-true, and the full Resort collection fulfilled the promise of Monday's red-carpet preview: tight cutout dresses that have been picking up fans for seasons. The nominal inspiration was sailing, but you got the sense that any excuse for a triangle wrapped around the torso would've done just as well. "I think we were in the winter funk until May," they explained in their studio today. Sail away, sail away, sail away!
Still, for all the doubling down, there were flashes of the new. Resort had a bigger emphasis on color than ever before. The designers have long worked in neutrals, but the use of that cardinal red and acidic yellow (they dubbed it "key lime") was fresh. And the promise of swimwear—an unusually logical brand extension first suggested by two tiny bikinis on the Spring ’13 runway—was realized here, with several styles borrowing the shapes of those famous body-con cutout dresses, as well as a few sheer cover-ups to pair with them.
