This Resort season, Douglas Hannant was not in the mood to spout off a few far-fetched references. His honesty was refreshing. Even more so than usual, the collection was straight-up about his customer. Specifically, her desire to wear soft, unstructured gowns and separates. "They don t want anything that s too complicated," he said at his showroom. Hannant described the look as "bohemian art collector," inspired by a few of his private clients who squarely fit the description. A single-seam silk dress in a swirled-paint print glided over the body, while the shoulders on a textured navy jacket were rounded for a bit of softness. The edges of a backless halter-neck gown in coral guipure lace were left undone to create a sort of fringe, and a strapless polka-dot tunic fluttered over the hips of a pair of matching wide-leg trousers.
Yet while the designer made an obvious point of avoiding too much structure, each piece was still very sleek. For instance, a psychedelic-print caftan with kimono sleeves could have been loose and frumpy, but instead it was cut close to the body and sported a thigh-high slit. Hannant s customers might want easy items, but they ve got to be sexy, too.
