MONSE RESORT
by EMILY FARRA / Vogue
You can count on Monse’s Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia to surprise you with their references. From shipping labels (Resort 2019) to cycling jerseys (Fall 2019) to their own pets (Pre-Fall 2019), it seems nothing is off the table; the common denominator is that their themes are usually sort of an accident. The same was true for Resort 2020: Their boss at Oscar de la Renta, Alex Bolen, gave them a book of Victorian board games to spark some ideas for ODLR, but Kim took it to Monse’s downtown studio instead, having a hunch that it would be better suited to the younger label.
In addition to the old-timey look and feel of the games, she was fascinated by the odd items she found in many of them: surrealist hands, miniature soldiers, eyes, insects, and other knickknacks. She and Garcia aren’t afraid of being quite literal with their Monse designs, so in addition to the usual fare—playing cards, dice, jacks—those symbols were integrated into prints, knit intarsias, and, more surprisingly, trompe l’oeil tattoos on a sheer bodysuit.
If a deck-of-cards blouse and skirt looked a bit too literal—or conjured flashbacks of Alice in Wonderland—that bodysuit felt fresh in its going-for-it strangeness. (Look closer, and you’ll notice the heart and spade “tattoos” were sequined, and the Victorian “lover’s eye” had embroidered pearls around the edges, like a real brooch.) A few long-sleeved printed mesh tops had a similar look with a bit more coverage, and felt vaguely reminiscent of Jean Paul Gaultier’s cult tattoo shirts from the ’90s, which are enjoying a bit of a comeback.
The body-conscious fit of those tops was arguably the real takeaway here. Kim and Garcia slimmed down their proportions across the board, trading their usual boxy blazers and wide-leg trousers for hip-hugging midi skirts, ruched silk dresses, and narrower tailoring. (Girls who are still into that sized-way-up look should consider the pieced-together unisex suits, shown here on men.) It was easy to spot the best sellers: Top of the list was a body-skimming navy dress with contrast stitching, a cut-out at the shoulder, and a floaty handkerchief hem. It was simple, yet made a statement—exhibited by the number of women in the crowd wearing similar versions from Monse collections past.
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