“Pajamas to me are the best and the most intimate pieces of clothing,” said Alber Elbaz of his 2013 resort collection, “it’s about comfort and new volume.”
Elbaz gently reinvented the idea of a tracksuit that could be easy enough for day and glamorous enough for a gala evening, creating pants and lazy T-shirt tops in washed silk in vivid colors—ultramarine, grass green, poppy red. A “sweatshirt” might be formed from a swirling cloud of hot-pink parachute silk, and pants from the silver foil that resembles the blankets used by exhausted marathon runners to keep warm post-race.
These pieces were invested with added pizzazz with garlands of brilliantly colored necklaces made of rhinestones depicting colored plastic lizards and blossoms, and wrists laden with Lucite bangles that trapped chunky chain links within—as well as mirror-sided or asymmetric Lucite minaudières.
Keeping to the theme, Elbaz also explored the idea of honeycomb sports mesh, and the bonded fabric used for bras (an idea he first experimented with for fall 2012), to create perky dresses cut like clinging wife-beaters or with a “tennis dress” flare. The wash and go practicality of the fabric was offset by the finishing—seams bound in organza, or those full skirts buoyed up with bands of horsehair. There was more deft technique in the pieces that used broad stripe fabrics horizontally and vertically to create some op-art illusions.
Grand evening also had an effortless insouciance to it—a tuxedo worn with shorts cut to masquerade as a mini skirt, an ivory crepe shirtdress with gently pleated skirts, and a sensational dress created from two rectangles of silk—black in front and scarlet in back, that draped to caress the body.
Gleaming “Miami Beach” prints of palm trees and spiky tropical plants brought some razzle-dazzle to close the collection—and proved that Elbaz can create absolute chic out of pure kitsch.
