One of the big takeaways from Spring ’17 was the exuberance of color, from shocking pink to offbeat shades of orange and green. You can’t really say “colors” are a trend, but the tides are certainly shifting, and many designers chose hues that felt optimistic and joyful. Nili Lotan, a designer who typically prefers a palette of black, gray, and denim, was thinking along those lines for Pre-Fall. “After the election, I thought we needed a little color in our lives with all this darkness and uncertainty,” she said. “You’re not going to see pink in my collections, but I was looking for colors that would cheer me up.”
Lotan’s idea of cheerful colors meant jewel tones like sapphire, emerald, and peridot, which looked gorgeous on her signature slips and camisoles. Much of the collection revolved around the idea of head-to-toe, day-to-night silk, so the timing worked out nicely; no other fabric takes color as beautifully. Lotan also introduced what may be her first printed slip dress: a slinky camouflage number with raw edges and velvet straps. It looked remarkably cool under a beat-up camo utility jacket; it’s easy to picture some of her most famous fans (Gigi, Bella, Kendall) wearing the full look. Mixed in with those fluid pieces were Lotan’s signature army pants, a shrunken bomber jacket, and a flight suit inspired by her own time in the Israeli Air Force. She explained that women who come to her store buy into both “categories”; some days, they’re feeling a floor-length slip, and others, they just want to throw on a parka and jeans.
