Prabal Gurung said he approached his striking new Resort collection as if it was a "one-stop shop from morning to evening." The idea, he explained, was prompted by all the traveling he's been doing to trunk shows in places as far-flung as Singapore and Toronto. It's smart business to listen to customers' needs, but if Gurung embraced practicality, he didn't abandon his creative side.
Inspired by a show of the British artist Matthew Stone's work at The Hole gallery, the designer covered just about every surface in the wide-ranging collection—from tees and sweatshirts to floor-length gala dresses—with prints or jacquards designed to evoke Stone's brushstrokes. The prints and jacquards came in vivid shades of red or blue, sometimes mingled together, and they turned the clothes into moving canvases. Color-blocking likewise gave chunky sweaters and cotton shirtdresses a bold look. Gurung added panels of black stretch into the waistband of a tweed sheath not just for graphic appeal, but also for shaping purposes—a customer request handled with confident panache. Speaking of panache, a pantsuit, its jacket lapel-less save for a sharp ruffle from buttonhole to hem, had flair to spare. The fact that it was navy made it stand out all the more amid the sea of prints; the same went for a strapless cocktail dress topped by an upper-arm-covering capelet in the same shade of midnight blue jacquard.
