At a time when a blazer is topping every girl’s wish list, it’s good to be Veronica Beard. Designers and sisters-in-law Veronica Swanson Beard and Veronica Miele Beard have believed in the power of a blazer since they launched in 2010, and a jacket with a zip-in dickey has become their calling card. Their customer picks up the combo for her 9-to-5, or she’ll wear it with jeans (hence the label’s just-launched denim collection), but she favors novelty, too. The Pre-Fall collection had a double-breasted black crepe jacket with contrast stitching, plus a few blazers in tawny retro plaid. The Veronicas styled them with matching trousers, but most Veronica Beard shoppers are typically inclined to break up their suiting. The checked blazer over a mixed-floral gown was long enough to extend past your hips, so a particularly daring customer might not wear pants at all. Elsewhere, the Veronicas built on their other signature: ruched dresses and skirts, which manage to be both sultry and comfy.
The collection’s main touchstone, the ’90s, was felt mainly in the prints and colors. Both women have fond memories of that decade, specifically how the ’70s were influencing fashion at the time; as Vogue’s Sarah Mower has pointed out, fashion tends to follow a 20- to 25-year cycle. Miele Beard namechecked The Partridge Family, which her own kids have been watching, and Swanson Beard pointed out a hippieish blue sunflower print, which was inspired by her own high school graduation dress. The lace-trim camis and slip skirts will be more familiar to Clueless fans, but the collection was happily missing splashy logos, low-rise jeans, and other less-seemly ’90s fads.
