Resort Ready

Because of our late-blooming spring and summer weather here in Canada and much of North America, most of us don't begin shopping for summer clothing until we find ourselves suffocating in our knits and layers. Often, the problem arises that by the time we are ready to shop for a summer wardrobe, designers are already in full gear for their fall/winter collections and even chain retailers have sold out of your size and dumped the summer goodies in a discount bin. Although it's a pain to know that the months of September-December are the best times to buy your summer clothes for the following year, we may take leisure in the fact that because fashion is always so ahead of the game, we get to cop style ideas from Resort Collections from the runway reports just as it's getting toasty in the town. Whereas the Resort collections, originally started by Dolce & Gabanna, were traditionally reserved for celebrities purchasing warm-climate clothing for their resort vacations to sunny destinations, Resort has now become a full-fledged season with a shifting focus from what to wear on vacation to what to wear right now. Resort wear tends to be light in weight, often made in silk, cotton, linen, denim, or microfibre, easy to pack or wash, and following the Nautical or Hawaian style. Evening and Caftan dresses, lightweight shorts, swimwear, open toed sandals and lightweight footwear in general, as well as light dinner jackets for men take the platform as Resort wear hits the runway catwalk. Inspiration for the now year-round Resort Collections is often drawn from Indonesia, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Costa Rica and Spain.

Follow the link below to check out full coverage of the runway reports from the Resort Collections '09. Dare to be inspired!

http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/resort/