Kristin Hannah’s novel “The Nightingale,” set in France during World War II, left Rebecca Taylor intrigued and inspired by the women of the French Resistance for pre-fall. “There are these amazing images of women dressed for battle but looking incredibly chic,” she said during a preview. Trenchcoats were a key look for female fighters in the Forties, and after failing to find one with the right proportions for herself, Taylor cut her own in navy and camel, trimmed them in leather and paired them with floral-printed slipdresses to exemplify the collection’s balance of structure and softness. A resolved romantic, Taylor wisely used the updates of retro outerwear — such as a burgundy cropped leather bomber — to offset some of the collection’s flou.