The resort collections used to function as a glimpse of what we’d wear during the holidays; now, they’ve been recast as our “re-emerging” wardrobes, an influx of product to delight in after months of isolation. We’re judging these clothes not just for their beauty and novelty, as we might have in the past, but also for how they address the ways our lives have changed—and how they’ll continue to change as we approach December, when the collections ship, and beyond.
Veronica Swanson Beard and Veronica Miele Beard are firm believers in the uplifting power of getting dressed, and they’ve already witnessed it over the past few weeks. As their stores reopened across the country—from San Francisco to Miami to Nantucket—they’ve been surprised by the rush of customers. Their clothes are well-suited to this period of change: sweaters, blouses, day dresses, and other easy, feminine stuff that isn’t too fussy or too expensive. For resort, they took extra care to relax their silhouettes and keep the styling relatively simple, the suggestion being that we’ll want to be comfortable as we resume our activities. (In the backdrop of each photo, the Veronicas unfurled backdrops depicting what those activities might be: attending a kid’s soccer game, going to the grocery store, shopping on the streets of New York.) There’s hardly any tailoring, save for a pajama-like emerald satin suit and a flared chocolate houndstooth one. The latter was paired offhandedly with sneakers and an untucked shirt, while in the past, it might have been shown with stilettos. (Perhaps quarantine has sounded the final death knell on those.) Women who can’t justify a suit in a pandemic will be drawn more to the statement-y, Zoom-approved knits, particularly a puffed-sleeve crewneck in pretty lilac pointelle.
