Dropping in May, the latest collection from LaDoubleJ is more about high summer than pre-fall, at least according to the buy-in-season ethos of the company. “It’s actually an offer for the summer holidays, to travel down the Amalfi coast, to take a road trip to Tuscany, to go to a friend’s wedding or to party in some gorgeous beachside location,” said founder JJ Martin with typical ebullience. “Nobody knows how to vacation like an Italian, do they?” Well, yes: we take the matter very seriously.
Despite its (still) young life, La DoubleJ has amassed a rather impressive archive of prints, all extra-colorful and “joy-inducing,” as Martin calls them. A few of them were re-edited this season and rendered into new shapes or splashed across the LDJ carry-overs that are constantly refreshed. The Big Flowers patterns were printed over the wedding-season appropriate Lollipop wrap dress, a feast of sexy swinging ruffles; the Mezzaluna print graced the new Biennale sundress in fresh summer poplin, and the Pineapple motifs looked cheerful on the androgynous Aviator jumpsuit.
New additions to the line-up were slender one-shouldered dresses leaning on the sexier side and abbreviated padded jackets meant to be thrown over beach separates, bikinis or bathing suits “when you get cold in the evening strolling on the lungomare,” said the ever-practical Martin. Tighter, shorter, body-con minidresses were offered with a young customer in mind: “When you’ve got the bum, you’ve got the legs, you’ve got to flaunt them in these va-va-voom numbers,” said Martin.
Cotton-voile kaftans came in different lengths, trimmed with feathers for more soigné occasions. As for the thigh-fitting ’70s-inspired Superflare pants, they’d make you look the incarnation of Talitha Getty, ready to board a jet to the nearest Italian palazzo for the most glamorous party of the season.
