The commercial imperatives of Resort can bring out the best in a designer. Australia's Kym Ellery is a case in point: This season, she demonstrated a talent for simplicity, emphasizing silhouettes that were strong without being overbearing. One of Ellery's new tunics, for instance, featured sculptural volume and seam detailing, but you had to attend to the garment a bit in order to understand what made it compelling. It didn't muscle for your attention. The same was true of the collection's striped linen jacket, understated despite its capelike flourish in back, and the monkish, wide-wale pajama pants, which looked especially fresh. This outing wasn't all about reduction, however: The designer made adroit use of embellishment, adding a spray of resin flowers to a few looks, and she followed up last season's excellent dark floral print with another in the same vein, a collage of patterns taken from her mother's wedding china. Still, the strongest pieces in this collection were the simplest—and a few of those items, like Ellery's bell-shaped skirt in cream-toned bonded crepe, had the force of real classics.
