Lela Rose Resort 2023 Collection

Resort is a peculiar season because some designers lean into seasonally appropriate winter wares, while others take the name literally and offer suitably breezy clothes. It can be hard in the heat of summer to transport yourself into a cozy, curl-up-by-the-fire-with-a-glass-of-cocoa mindset that some resort collections conjure. But Lela Rose is going to try to get you there. Her latest collection is all tinsel and tulle (in spirit if not in fabrication).

The Lela Rose holiday party last year involved a trip to see The Nutcracker which inadvertently became the jumping off point for resort. “We were sitting there looking at the costumes. Not necessarily the shapes, but the layering of the tulles,” Rose says, emphasizing that the collection is only “very loosely” based on the actual ballet. It’s true, you won’t find any tutus here. But you will see plenty of outfits suitable for sitting in the audience at the ballet. The most cinematic is a houndstooth skirt and shirt set adorned with large black pom poms and a fuzzy collar; the most appealing is a beige tulle dress with a high-neck, more subtle polka dots, and a slightly dropped waist. It’s a little ’80s, a little Degas.

Known for feminine dresses that appeal to grown women, Rose generally avoids gimmicks, and instead relies on the colorful and the conservative. Standard fare are the pastel pink and purple dresses with scalloped cutouts; turtleneck dresses in black, white, and red; and a strapless chartreuse tea-length dress. But Rose designs party clothes for resort, and naturally, it’s the more adventurous outfits that stand out. One of Rose’s favorites (and mine) is a black matelasse ball skirt with a scallop-trimmed waist, paired with a tulle bra top. Proof that there’s nothing hotter in fashion right now than an exposed midriff.