Rag & Bone CEO Marcus Wainwright was in London last Friday christening a new store in the city’s Soho neighborhood, and another Rag & Bone shop is going up soon in Dubai. With more than 30 outposts spread across the world—Australia, Japan, Miami, he rattled off a list—the label’s new Resort collection was purposely designed to be eclectic. There’s a nylon flight jacket with a removable shearling collar for New York winters, a crystal-studded tank dress suitable for New Year’s Eve in South Beach, and for the flight between, a tracksuit in pink Japanese terry with a neat little patch on the jacket hem proudly announcing that the fabric was made in one of that country’s premier mills, Yagi.
Resort is a big season for knitwear at Rag & Bone. Here, too, a nice range of options are on offer from fine-ribbed knits shot through with metallic threads to downy cashmeres. An oversize cashmere crewneck in black, pink, and white stripes and a chunkier, yet snugger cashmere pullover in speckled pink are exemplary of the collection in general. Basic, sure. Boring, no. Wainwright may reject fashion world artifice—at his 15th anniversary presentation earlier this year, he boldly announced that he may never put on a runway show again—but he doesn’t reject fashion outright. In fact, he’s rather bullish about the R&B business at the moment. Mixed in with the sturdy, chic outerwear, fashionable denim silhouettes, and those great knits were a handful of very on-trend message tees and sweaters. “Merci,” “Let’s Dance,” and “Have a Nice Day” they read. “Go Hard or Go Home” apparently didn’t make the cut, but Wainwright had a good chuckle at the thought of it.
