Monsieur Christian Dior advocated for small pockets. It’s an edict that designer Ashlynn Park has followed—until now. Having chosen travel as the organizing principle of her resort collection, Park said she “purposely added pockets as a detail.” But these were no normal pockets. She instead made delicious little drawstring pouches with hidden back compartments, adding them to a tunic top with insets of bias-cut chiffon and a white denim jacket paired with matching carpenter jeans.
With her once-a-year pre-collection, Park wanted to emphasize everyday looks. This season she set herself the goal of making “some kind of uniform for travel.” Park said she was “thinking about adaptability, more wearable pieces for an everyday lifestyle,” and she extended that idea by working with a street style photographer on the look book.
Closet staples include a nylon-look anorak that is actually made of a water-repellent wool, and very desirable thin knits, including a long slim skirt with lots of give and raw-edged chiffon inserts on the side seams. The designer reported that customers have been responding well to her experiments with deconstruction, and so she continued them. The complicated pattern-making of last season was simplified and used to create dimensional pockets on a flowy summery dress. Park’s many-seamed shirt has acquired short sleeves and has been extended into a shirtdress that’s refreshingly not so classic. The pièce de résistance is a black scoop-neck tunic with an ivory under-peplum constructed of squares of fabric that have the fragile flutter of flower petals.