Like many designers, Nicole Hanley takes her seasonal inspiration from a specific location, her rule being she has to have actually set foot there “so it’s authentic,” she said. For resort, she chose Malibu, where she lived for a few years. “There was such a casualness, and being an East Coast girl on the West Coast was such a new experience,” Hanley said. “It was sort of the genesis of our brand.”
How to make California casual appropriate for a less laid-back lifestyle was the mission for resort. Working in sky, ocean, sunset and land colors, Hanley dressed up beachy silhouettes — cut-off shorts, lace-up shirts, loungewear and scuba-inspired dresses — with fine fabrics, such as silvery tweed for the shorts; woven chiffon for a deluxe knit top, and sunset-print chiffon on kicky skirted and dress shapes.