Dion Lee – Pre Spring/Summer 2016 Ready-To-Wear

Talking about a Dion Lee collection, it’s well nigh impossible to avoid describing the designer as an engineer. Lee is so technically innovative, so cleverly mathematical in the way he puts together his clothes, the word comes to you unbidden. For Resort, though, the most fitting description of Lee may well be poet. Yes, the technical prowess was in full effect, particularly in the looks that found him continuing to evolve the splicing and horizontal perforation techniques he introduced in his previous collection. But the pieces here that stayed with you were the ones that conjured a mood, an atmosphere. At an appointment today, Lee said that he wanted this collection to feel “light,” and items such as his printed sundresses and off-the-shoulder bias-cut silks did indeed seem as gossamer as a reverie.

When women daydream about vacationing in Mykonos, they imagine themselves—generically—in those kinds of clothes. Lee captured the romance of the vision and filled in the blanks. Elsewhere, the best of his more urbane looks carried on the lightness theme, thanks to relaxed tailoring and ribbon-y pleats and fringe that foregrounded a sense of movement. The hems of his perforated dresses, meanwhile, actually seemed to levitate. The engineering of those garments was brilliant, to be sure. But this season, process was in the service of telling a larger story. It wasn’t the whole point.