Call it the result of preseasons' (perhaps dauntingly) open-ended nature, but a lot of designers seem to be looking inward this season. Many are the brands whose Resort outings have been focused on reworking their design codes. For the pair behind Apiece Apart, it led them to thinking about their geographical origins. Laura Cramer and Starr Hout's label crystallized during a road trip through the Southwest, and here they let their minds wander through the dramatic landscapes and artier proclivities of Galisteo, New Mexico, home of the late painter Agnes Martin and to Tom Ford and Richard Buckley's Tadao Ando-designed ranch. It was present in the palette, heavy on neutrals and spiked by high notes of citron. The Apiece Apart woman is just that: a woman, not a girl—mature and a little arty, with a wardrobe that exists somewhere at the crossroads of soigné and quirky. Resort's shapes reflected that, as the pair embraced an easy kind of sensuality, drapey and textured. A simple gauzy dress came with hook-and-eye closures that could take its neckline from prim to plunging, and was trimmed in crafty pompoms. Still, in terms of sex appeal, their slinky, ever-so-slightly sheer rib knits were the dark-horse hit here. Lush knitwear, much of it produced in Peru, has been a longstanding strong suit for the label, but pieces less within their wheelhouse, like leather culottes, felt savvy, too—and are already paying off, it would seem: In the midst of their sales appointments, the designers hinted that Resort would be a breakthrough season for the brand.
