Since her Fall show, Marissa Webb has scored a big job at Banana Republic. It should raise the profile of her own brand, which is in expansion mode. This was her first Resort offering for her eponymous label. She used the occasion to continue to refine her message. The girly flourishes of previous shows have mostly vanished. Generally speaking, Webb prefers clothes with an urban, boyish feeling. Close-fit suits with cropped pants, cotton poplin shirts of all shapes and sizes, tough leather pieces—she gave them feminine appeal in the way she layered them together. The first look, for example, paired a boyish suit with an oversize button-down reined in by the cropped tank worn over it. Webb has also developed a fondness for the element of surprise. The boxy white tank she herself was modeling had a sheer back—provocative, but only so much. The girliest piece here was a pinafore dress with a floaty, asymmetrical hem (it happened to be the best look in the collection), but even it was toughened up in a bold black-and-white gingham check. Save for a couple of pale lilac suede separates, color was another thing Webb more or less avoided here. The collection would've benefitted from a bit more of it.
