After going intergalactic last season, Simon Miller creative director Chelsea Hansford has touched back down at home, focusing on the San Fernando Valley. The Valley, as it’s called colloquially, is known for its old school Hollywood midcentury glamour and kitsch. “It’s the real Hollywood to me,” Hansford said during a walk-through of her collection.
The area’s sites include tiki bars, disco clubs, diners and motels, each signature parts of the area that Hansford used as inspiration for the collection. She started with the Simon Miller logo on ringer T-shirts or a shrunken tank paired with a wide cargo pant with an orange paint stripe down the leg, also on swim styles, easy pieces for high summer, when pre-fall delivers. Then she moved into pleated skirts, summer satins and linen separates with a mix of hand-painted polka dot print pieces. Saturated color was used on cover-ups and sprinkled into her mesh assortment — a fabrication she reported as one of their most popular. They were standouts.
Knits this season have the addition of a whip stitch detail adding newness to another of the brand’s popular categories. It wouldn’t be Simon Miller without a few sequins, and Hansford delivered them in Crayola green on a spaghetti strap tank dress with a high slit up the side or a playful jumpsuit that would be the talk of a summer party. Top it all off with a bronze-ish gold metallic trenchcoat, maybe paired with any version of her bubble clogs, a modern take on kitschy style. Just ask Martha Stewart, who has been photographed all over wearing the already popular clogs.
You May Also Like
Accessories are key to the brand, footwear newness coming in penny loafer mules or stacked modular platforms, complemented with a wide mix of colorful and textured handbags in geometric shapes or in chainmail. Hansford isn’t only about a good time, though, introducing a logo market tote in myriad colors, meeting a demand from buyers and customers who need an easy bag to bring to work.