Rebecca Minkoff: A day at the beach
The first look at Rebecca Minkoff's Spring 2013 show seemed like an ordinary crisp white shirt and jeans, till you glance below the knee and see a colorful floral print, as if the model was wading through a garden of wildflowers. (Sept. 7, 2012) Credit: AP
Rebecca Minkoff has spent her share of weekends on Long Island’s East End, and so, perhaps, the miles of sand and surf served as inspiration for her spring collection, which was like a day at the beach. A day in the middle of the week, that is, or maybe off-season, when you’ve got the beach and boardwalk to yourself, and it’s just you and miles of endless horizon.
“There’s something quiet about the collection,” noted one audience member, who was trying to define the special “it” factor behind this line.
Runway standouts have got to include any of those sun-bleached floral prints that fade in and out on dresses, tops or denim. The first look, in fact, seems like an ordinary crisp white shirt and jeans, till you glance below the knee and see a colorful floral print, as if the model was wading through a garden of wildflowers.
Tropical wallpapers and canopy stripes also get the sun-faded treatment, and there’s a sexy Fara skirt with a loosely crocheted hem, like the fringed edge of a hammock. And let’s not forget the shoes — particularly those chunky-heeled platforms with wide criss-crossing straps — and the bags (her hallmark), like that Miami-ready aqua clutch, a perforated white portfolio, or a studded shoulder bag.
“People have seen florals before,” and macramé, too, noted Minkoff backstage after the show. She was looking to present these standard looks in a slightly unexpected way. Her inspiration was photographer Slim Aarons, who, in the ‘60s and ‘70s, hung poolside to snap celebs and the jet set in their exclusive watery habitats.
Were Aarons shooting today (he died in 2006), Minkoff imagines him shutterbugging around Montauk’s Surf Lodge, catching some of her gals in action. Alas, Minkoff is not exactly sure when she’ll next get out there herself.
“The traffic now is…,” she says, trailing off. “It took us five hours to get out there the last time, and I’ve got a young family now so…we may have to find somewhere else.”
Let’s hope, like her florals, that thought fades….
