Retrofête, Tanya Taylor Resort 2026 and More Contemporary Brands

Ohad Seroya continued to put the “retro” in Retrofête with inspiration from the Palms, both Beach and Springs. 

The look: Swinging ‘60s beach Barbie. 

Quote of note: “I love the idea of mixing East Coast elegance with West Coast ease,” shared Seroya via email. “Palm Beach brings a posh, refined sensibility to the collection [and] Palm Springs evokes a more relaxed kind of glamor.”

Standout pieces: Hibiscus floral and sea foam-colored chiffon maxi gowns; pastel crochet cover-ups; miniskirt sets with marabou feather trim, one in denim and another in kaleidoscopic print; crystal “water-droplet” and “oyster” paillette embellished pieces; a disco diva romper decked out in gilded fringe; three-dimensional “sunburst” dresses.

Takeaway: Seroya certainly knows his way around killer party clothes, but it would be nice to see him ground them with streetwear elements like jeans and sweats from his other Ser.O.Ya. label.

Lingua Franca founder Rachelle Hruska MacPherson returned to her roots with a knit-centric lineup that infused Danish folklore with all-American cottage-core. 

The look: Scandi street-style star at home for the holidays.

Quote of note: “My grandma and grandpa on my mother’s side were very Danish and I’m from Nebraska,” said Hruska MacPherson, who grew up in what’s known as America’s Swedish capital. “It’s just like all Scandinavian all the time, especially during the holidays, which is when this collection is dropping, so I just thought: ‘we haven’t mined that yet — let’s see if there’s something there.’”

Standout pieces: An oatmeal-colored knit polo stitched with tulips and a scenic cottage; Nordic alpaca robes and cardigans with mismatched found buttons or dainty floral ribbon bows; cotton cashmere pullovers threaded with Hans Christian Andersen quotes; silk viscose pajamas and frilly house dresses with hand-shaped love token prints; a peasant-y tiered skirt set with a quilt pattern from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s archives.

Takeaway: By keeping stock keeping units to a minimum, Hruska MacPherson maximized on whimsy with plenty of charming passementerie. According to her: “Do we need a million sweaters, or just one perfect one?”

Fashion director Tara Rudes Dann tuned into Old Hollywood’s femme fatale archetype for a collection charged with “the kind of glamour that feels both romantic and empowering.”

The look: Marlene Dietrich meets Jane Birkin.

Quote of note: “I was inspired by 1930s tailoring, and I wanted to reimagine the idea of tuxedo dressing for the modern woman,” said Rudes Dann via email. “The tuxedo bodysuit was created from that idea. It’s the ultimate layering piece — structured yet fluid. There’s a versatility to it that feels fresh and sexy.”

Standout pieces: Sequin tweed suiting; matching Rue Cambon knit and leopard print sets; a Le Smoking-style skirt suit; a plunging looped satin lapel tuxedo mini; boudoir lace bodysuits, evening slips and micro minis.

Takeaway: Eveningwear continues to be a sales driver for Rudes Dann whose offering goes beyond the dress. Her pinch-waist jackets and flares have just as much — if not more — sex appeal.

The intersection of interior design and personal style stood at the starting point. If we curate our homes, don’t we also curate our wardrobes, was what design director Yana Popov was musing about with her work. “It’s memorabilia, it’s objects that you’ve acquired through travel, or heirlooms that your families passed down to you. I feel like we should be doing the same thing with our wardrobe,” she said.

The look: Classics with modern pre-styled elements, elevating them to well-designed pieces for everyday life.

Quote of note: “I think what everyone’s reacting to is essentially those bodies that are recognizable to the brand, reimagined in like new fabrications and then pre-styled knits. I mean, at this point, I feel like we’re kind of set to be known for our pre-styling.”

Key pieces: Pajama pants done as a trouser; a wide selection of great knit ideas – a knit dress with wrap detail, a cape on a cardigan, knit sleeves on a half trench, knit fringe on a long skirt, knit collars on shirting, and utility moments with cargo pockets on skirts and coats.

Takeaway: Popov’s work — particularly the pre-styled accents — offers just enough direction to make pieces feel special but approachable for the modern woman who wants fashion but doesn’t want to over think.

Inspired by artists’ uniforms, designer Tanya Taylor took aim at an elevated, functional vibe that couldn’t be tied to a single time period. Case in point? Grace Weaver, the Brooklyn-based artist who Taylor described as someone who “looks like she could be from the 1940s, but is in her 20s now.”

The look: Taylor reached far beyond the prints of seasons past to introduce a slew of new fabrications, from suiting to knitwear and shirting with utilitarian touches. Taylor’s accessory for the season was a toolbelt that could be coupled with a breezy button-up or more formal suiting.

The standout: A two-piece jacket and skirt set in leopard-printed hide that didn’t quite match with the collection’s workwear mood but displayed Taylor’s breadth of vision.

Quote of note: “I wanted it to feel like nothing was too tricky and everything had to feel comfortable. That’s where the fabrications came from and why the details are more subtle, which bring things to life,” Taylor said.

Takeaway: “I felt that there’s this cool relationship between what creatives wear versus what they make,” Taylor said.

Cinq à Sept designer Jane Siskin breezed past the western influences of collections and beelined to mod ’50s and ’60s references with, as she put it, “a hint of rock ‘n’ roll.”

The look: Key pieces from the collection — denim sets, tailoring and evening gowns — all got a moderate dusting of embellishment, from a neckline on a pocketed Mod dress to the gathered waist on a black ballgown.

The standout: A blue satin gown with gemstones and a bow at the waist, paired with a cropped collared jacket of the same material and accenting on the chest pockets.

Quote of note: “There has to be a mix of aspiration and commerciality, and if we mix the two properly together, we win,” she told WWD.

Takeaway: Siskin brought together materials, from leather pants to silk dresses, for a mixture of wearability, elevation and edge.

If you ask Vince designer Caroline Belhumeur where she drew inspiration for her resort collection, it’s not a sunny answer. “I started with the color palette. A friend of mine had gone to Antarctica and had taken photos of icebergs and the sea. It was so intense and stormy,” she told WWD. “It’s bluey-green colors, and black. I loved the idea of keeping that but super clean and playing with textures.”

The look: Cashmere sweaters paired with novelty bottoms, which Belhumeur lauded for their versatility — think leather, sequins and more feathery textured fabrics as well. On top, understated blouses accompanied pared-back knits.

The standout: A Bianca Jagger-inspired cream suit that, by Belhumeur’s own admission, “you could wear as a holiday moment, into spring, and to dress up for summer.”

Quote of note: “We approach dressing for this time period in our way, which is pretty chilled out, not shouting but rather quietly being sophisticated and having fun through texture and silhouette in a way that’s wearable year after year,” Belhumeur told WWD.

Takeaway: “The signature of Vince is comfort, feeling at ease,” Belhumeur said.

Just as the brand always ties its collections to a sunny destination — think long lunches, beach days and sunsets — its horizons are broadening, too, as it introduces new fabrications and techniques.

The look: Inspired by an array of vintage silk scarves from the ’60s, the brand’s expansive collection reiterated the palm prints of seasons past in paisley-esque silhouettes on cotton poplin dresses of varied length and printed linen skirt sets.

The standout: A fiery coral paisley scarf dress, topped with a halter neckline and finished with an open back.

Quote of Note: “We do knits, we do outerwear, but the ethos of the brand is really that escapism and jet set mentality. Even in the fall collection, for example, it makes you want to dream,” Katie Hobbs, cofounder, told WWD.

Takeaway: Cara Cara is growing, and taking on new territories beyond poplin to boot, from touches of embellishment, knitwear and denim to the more decadent jacquards and bouclé.

A visit to the “Fragments of the Treasure House of Darkness” exhibit at London’s Stephen Friedman gallery, invited Kobi Halperin to step into the ornate, floral-filled universe of American portraitist Kehinde Wiley.

The look: While Halperin sourced inspiration in London, these clothes were meant for tropical climes, keeping with Wiley’s Nigerian heritage.

Quote of note: “I’ve always had this obsession with portraits,” said Halperin who was introduced to Wiley’s work in 2017 after he was commissioned by then-President Barack Obama. “He uses a lot of William Morris-type prints as backgrounds,” he continued, “and for me, it’s kind of the same with the way I design for women — as a portrait. It’s about the power, confidence and beauty that textiles and fashion can bring to your world, which I think we need [now] more than ever.”

Standout pieces: Floral-print sequin T-shirt and pencil skirt sets with fringed trimming; a “sea” of turquoise and indigo caftans, pareos, pajamas and peasant blouses in an array of bohemian paisleys; novelty denim as seen in printed flare jeans and a raw double-breasted Canadian tuxedo; remixed tailoring in wool spliced together with knit and denim; new Kobi Swim pieces, a plunging black one-piece cut high on the pelvis was a standout. 

Takeaway: Halperin succeeded in uplifting the spirits with this bright and fun vacation-minded collection.

Israeli designer Yigal Azroüel channeled his passion for bicycling into a lifestyle-oriented lineup with plenty of sportif references.

The look: Urban city slicker cycling down the West Side Highway.

Quote of note: “The collection is inspired by my lifestyle in New York,” Azrouël said, perusing the racks at his TriBeCa showroom. “Menswear is something that always inspires me because I was thinking about myself — how I would wear the pieces and I like to play with masculine and feminine.”

Standout pieces: Utility jackets in Japanese denim and cotton twill with matching balloon-waist trousers; sheer ribbed modal maxi T-shirt dresses in mineral colors; cotton palm tree and floral jacquard pajama separates; a melange knit racer-back bra top and boy shorts; a zippered mini shift dress in beige gabardine with contrasting brown leather collar; flared leather trousers and a stonewashed denim halter gown with fasteners and buckled accents.  

Takeaway: Azroüel continues to offer a mix of sexy, sporty and cool with versatile pieces for life in the fast lane.

After dressing The Go-Go’s frontwoman Belinda Carlisle at Coachella, stylist turned creative director Jeannine Braden kept the ‘70: festival vibes going for resort. 

The look: Bohemian rock muse.

Quote of note: Mentioning the chaos surrounding the recent wildfire tragedy in Palisades, Malibu and Los Angeles, Braden said she wanted to take “a turn into the cinematic stillness of the California desert.…The collection became a study in contrasts: the raw influence of nature’s landscape and the shimmer of performance.”

Standout pieces: Faux leopard-printed furs; crystal embellished “sloppy” knits; bias dresses in watercolor viscose with tissue hemlines; stretch-sequin pencil skirts; peasant blouses in kaleidoscopic floral chiffon; rugged army green cotton trousers; fluid palm-printed pajama separates.

Takeaway: A bit rugged, a bit glam, Carlisle packed all the elements of SoCal style into one tour wardrobe.