Christopher Esber is currently feting his brand’s 10th anniversary. Though a planned runway show for resort had to be scuttled, there’s still reason to celebrate. In the past couple of years, the Australian designer’s beach-inflected style has gained traction on major retail platforms; he has just unveiled a swim line; and he’s gradually evolving toward more elaborate high-end pieces.
“It’s definitely a lesson in sticking with what you believe in,” he commented at a showroom visit via Zoom. “I’m just grateful to be doing what I love.” Travel restrictions or no, Esber always has his head in the tropics—say, Jamaica or Hawaii—which he said helped keep him focused as he designed this collection. “It feels like you’re on holiday wearing a coconut bra,” he quipped. Fortunately, several looks (though not all) were a little more covered up than that.
Merging resort into spring, the designer explored a long-standing fascination with voodoo through twisted, wrapped techniques, in earthy colors with an emphasis on rounded shapes such as gathered skirts with pegged hems. Hand-crochet was a dominant theme, transposed into a stripe on a tuxedo trouser, worked as a camisole over a leather peplum skirt, used as inserts on a chocolate leather jumpsuit, and teamed with mesh.
Esber has tailoring chops, and he used intricate binding techniques to let some pieces play coy: A blazer or redingote that looks Zoom-appropriate from the front actually had a completely cutout back. Shirting included a carryover from his very first collection—a cropped shirt with a built-in underwire bra—and a deconstructed button-down. Some of the racier looks revisited a penchant for incorporating crystals into the voids left by cutouts or explored the possibilities of printed sequins on metallic lace. The strongest outfits were the simplest ones.
