Often, pre-season collections serve as a time for designers to air their work at its most commercial, focused as those offerings are on keeping new stock on retailers shelves. But for Halston Heritage s Marie Mazelis, Resort allowed her to explore the season in the truest sense of the word, zeroing in on a beachy elegance inspired by Roy Halston Frowick s 1976 press jaunt to Acapulco, Halstonettes in tow. While not dripping in the kind of Studio 54-honed debauchery one would expect from Halston and his entourage (Halston Heritage in recent years has been marked by a quietly conservative undertone, from palette to silhouette), it was an opportunity for Mazelis to ease up on the brand s more office-minded leanings. She turned an eye instead to one-shoulder wafting caftans, palazzo jumpsuits, and gauzy, accordion-pleated maxi gowns, ready-made for poolside lounging and a spin or two on the dance floor. Glossy hardware as built-in accessory—an HH signature for several seasons now—sprung to life as chains that linked together bodices and skirts. But perhaps the best bling on offer here came in the form of a simple beaded cream shirtdress. What it lacked in diaphanous yards of material it more than made up for in a certain Halston-esque loucheness.
