At first blush, you wouldn t think there d be much in common between Jeremy Scott and Emilio de la Morena. Scott is congenitally pop-tastic, De la Morena cerebral and unassuming. Yet they wound up on the same wavelength this season, at least kind of: Just as Scott had at Moschino, De la Morena s Resort collection emphasized engineered bandanna print, and beyond that, there was a Scott-like Pop surrealism to De la Morena s promiscuous use of bows. No need to stretch the comparison too far—you wouldn t confuse this collection with one by Jeremy Scott. But De la Morena was exploring his own kind of playful tone, and he was in top-notch form. The focus was on party dresses, at which De la Morena excels, and for the most part he hewed to short skirts and flared silhouettes. There was a fair amount of variety, though: A strapless minidress in a white bandanna print was made from stiff, sculpt-able silk that had been bonded to neoprene, while a second short, white strapless number in ruffled 3-D dotted cotton muslin was totally frothy. Elsewhere, De la Morena showed off his nervy sense of color, especially in a fully pleated minidress of lemon yellow, burgundy, and mint green. There was also a nice variety in the silhouettes—the short, flared looks will be popular with young ladies who have a jam-packed party schedule—but the very best looks here had a more sophisticated mien, and longer hemlines. A tied-up sleeveless blouse looked dead chic paired with either a soft silk skirt that grazed the knee or a sharp pencil skirt in the silk/neoprene. Those looks were still playful but very adult. Kudos.
