Michael Kors designed his new Resort collection with his childhood summers at the Catalina Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, New York, a well-to-do strip of sand off the South Shore of Long Island, in mind. He remembers his mom and his aunts at the club bare-legged in brocade, wearing extravagant clothes in a casual way. It was glamleisure about 50 years ahead of schedule.
Revisiting and refreshing classic American sportswear is the Kors way and has been since 1981, a fact he reminded us of here with a cashmere baseball jersey emblazoned with 19 on the front and 81 on the back. Coming off a Fall collection of prep school grunge, he gave this one a sunny, seaside spin with big, bold turquoise flower prints and black and white marinière stripes representing the two sides of what he described as a “tug of war between the painterly and the graphic.” They got along swimmingly, in fact; Kors doesn’t believe in “difficult” or “challenging” fashion. He’s cognizant of trends—hands-free bags, cork-soled sandals à la Birks. Nonetheless, you go to his presentations expecting not a retinue of the latest It items, but a list of Kors-isms filtered through the season’s themes.
The bathing suit that’s not a bathing suit but rather a layering piece for skirts and trousers came in turquoise and violet flowers with cut-outs at the side. The sequin shifts were modeled on color-blocked rash guards, and an athletic skirtsuit was made from bonded black neoprene. On the opulent side of the sportif opulence divide, the hands-down star was a dress that owed much to the Catalina Beach Club. It was a ’60s mod short in silvery brocade boasting a neckline studded with turquoise beads “so you don’t have to pack your jewelry.” He showed it with a hoodie that will receive plenty of attention on its own, in gray cashmere with pull cords made from supersized crystals. We also liked the look of a checked shirtdress breezy from in a breezy crushed georgette and a trapeze in lightweight cotton poplin.
