The Cruise Collections or Resort Collections are presented somewhere between the Spring Summer and the Autumn Fall Collections. Due to the acceleration of fashion, our massive consumption, and our excitement to travel, take pictures and look spectacular with exciting clothes, fashion brands present these collections to give us an idea of what this time of the year is all about.
As we know, the clothes that we see in fashion shows are not necessarily “wearable” clothes. More often than not, they are not even available at the stores because the brands create a more “subtle” interpretation of the fashion show looks for clients to purchase. The fashion on the runway is more of an exaggerated vision of the brand with the goal of being visually interesting and maintaining the relevance and popularity of the brand or fashion designer who is presenting.
This year, we saw lots of exciting Cruise Fashion shows in different parts of the world. After two years of travel restrictions, social distancing, and mutations, we finally got to a somewhat regular Resort season. Celebrities, editors, journalists, and fashion lovers traveled to different parts of the world to see what these Cruise collections are up to. Let’s take a look at some general insights into what these Cruise fashion shows were about and, most importantly, how we can adapt these fashion trends into our wardrobe to wear spectacular resort fashion this summer.
Tiered Skirts at Dior’s Womenswear Cruise Fashion Show
The movement of fabrics dancing to the summer breeze becomes an inspiration for many fashion designers. This is why resort fashion is now more relevant than ever. People are traveling and looking for ways to reconnect with nature and have a good time with themselves.
Christian Dior presented a spectacular Cruise show at the Plaza de España in Seville, Spain. The collection had 110 fashion looks inspired by Andalusian craftsmanship, history, and art while keeping the exquisite tailoring and elegance that Dior is recognizable for.
Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri did a spectacular job by collaborating with Spanish artisans that made the accessories for the show, blending aesthetics and making a truly authentic fashion collaboration, staying away from the so-called cultural appropriation.
Seville’s Plaza de España was covered with red flowers, and dozens of musicians and Flamenco dancers performed spectacularly, enhancing a truly memorable Cruise Fashion Show.
Dior’s cruise fashion show presented 110 looks, a huge number since these fashion shows usually contain around 40 and 60 looks as the cruise season is shorter than spring-summer and autumn-winter collections. A consistent element that you can see throughout the show is the tiered skirt. With different lengths, proportions, colors, and textures, this can be a very elegant and fashionable piece for this resort season. It is also very modest and easy to style with tops that can make it look casual or more elegant as desired. The volume of these skirts makes these looks visually exciting and allows you to style them with all kinds of footwear. If you want to look taller, you can use wedges or platforms you can walk with throughout the day. You can also wear it with sandals or flats for casual purposes or with pumps for a formal occasion. Tiered skirts are very versatile, and you can keep them for several seasons and style them in so many beautiful and different ways.
Printed Suits from The Moschino Cruise fashion show
Fashion designer Jeremy Scott has a very specific aesthetic when it comes to color combinations, prints, and styling. His whimsical interpretation of pop culture through clothes has empowered iconic figures like Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and most recently, Sebastian Yatra for his first Oscars red carpet this year.
Through Moschino, Jeremy Scott shows a bold expounding of fashion that inspires many fashion lovers to be daring and get outside of their comfort zone.
Casual wear becomes more formal, and formal attire becomes more casual. This general fashion movement diversifies the way in which we style our clothes and all the great things we can do with them. So it’s no surprise that fully printed suits are becoming so popular. Moschino presented several versions of this trend, from subtle and elusive prints to bold and loud proportions and colors; there is a printed suit for everyone. Suits for the day, suits for the evening, suits for hanging out with friends, and suits for creative professionals. We’ll start to see this trend trickle down and arrive at department stores in the next few months.
These suits are a great asset to your wardrobe as you can wear all the pieces together or style them separately. Small prints tend to be easier to style with other colors, and big prints are good for occasions where you want to stand out and be photographed well. This fashion trend is popular in suits for all genders and is a very fun way to express your personality through prints that match your aesthetic. For resort fashion, you may see printed suits with floral motifs or cruise-related prints (boats, palm trees, sea animals, etc.). These motifs are always in style for the resort season, so you can wear them in upcoming years and style them differently if you feel the need to keep yourself trendy.
The Richness of Textures by Christian Dior Menswear Resort Collection
Dior is such an enormous and successful fashion empire that both the womenswear resort collection and the menswear resort collection presented memorable fashion statements that inspire people from all over the world to have spectacular resort fashion looks.
Dior’s Menswear Resort fashion show took place in Venice Beach, California. In collaboration with Californian fashion designer Eli Russel Linnetz, this capsule collection is inspired by Dior’s archives from the 90s. It merges the luxurious and tasteful Dior aesthetic with the effortless pop style of Linnetz. It was a truly successful collaboration between two different points of view that connected to tell a story in one of the most iconic places of Los Angeles, California.
Many of the pieces from this collection included shades of blues and greens creating ombre effects, presented in shiny textiles, and styled with bucket hats and sneakers. But there were also light colors that truly represent the resort season in California.
It was very refreshing to see the variety of fabrics and textures in one single resort collection and how these textures were prevalent in different colors, from the iconic dove grey from Dior to more chromatic colors like hot pink and turquoise. We saw puffy jackets and pants, fleece, and shimmery and opaque garments. While many lines and designers limit themselves to linen and cotton for their resort collections, Dior told us through 41 looks that the resort season is a whole world of rich textures to explore.
So, in a saturated fashion resort market with white and navy stripes, sailor-inspired shirts, and fully white looks, you can play with the textured garments you already own. In many parts of the world, resort season doesn’t necessarily mean extremely hot weather, so you can add puffy jackets, light sweaters, and layered outfits to have rich textures inspired by the spectacular Menswear Resort Fashion Show by Dior.
Oversized Fit inspired by Louis Vuitton
The fashion industry lost a huge talent on November 28th, 2021. Fashion designer, DJ, and producer Virgil Abloh died after a two-year battle with rare cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma. He was 41 years old.
Abloh was the creative director of Off-White and was also in charge of Louis Vuitton menswear collections from 2015 till 2021, when he passed away.
But Abloh’s fashion legacy prevails. The concept of the most recent resort menswear collection from Louis Vuitton starts from Abloh’s idea of a music student/concert duality. The collection is full of sportswear items with the luxurious aesthetic of the French fashion house.
We see lots of oversized clothes that are easy to use for people of different sizes and genders. The silhouettes are sophisticated but also comfortable for the resort season when many consumers don’t want tailored garments that trace every curve of the body. For many, fashion resort is about relaxing and being comfortable; these oversized proportions fulfill these needs while also making people look fashionable and modern.
So feel free to interpret this widely popular oversized trend with XL hoodies, t-shirts, pants, and jackets that match your style. Remember that it is important to balance oversized garments with fitted ones, so if your hoodie is oversized, you can wear a pair of skinny shorts or leggings to balance the proportions and contour some parts of the body.
Fashion is not a dictatorship. Fashion designers don’t tell us what we should be wearing. Instead, they interpret our interests and our culture through fashion shows that we end up enjoying because, more often than not, they are a result of massive research, trial, and error, and a huge desire to connect with the audience in the hugely competitive fashion industry.
The trends for this resort season come from sources of inspiration from different parts of the world, whether it is an iconic Spanish actress from the 20th century or the combination of street style with high fashion. But in the end, we as consumers decide what trends we want to follow if they represent who we are and which trends we can adapt to make them match our authentic selves and our aesthetics.
Cruise collections are joyful. Because it is a time of the year when many people travel, connect with people, get to see exciting places, and change their routine at least a little bit. May this idea of joy be your source of inspiration regardless of your plans for this season. Wherever you are, whatever you do, joy is a great starting point.
I'm not really into style. I'm more into confidence or having something to say. -Virgil Abloh
