Pamella Roland – Pre Spring/Summer 2016 Ready-To-Wear

How does a doyenne of red-carpet flou pay homage to easy summers whiled away at her home on Lake Michigan? By setting her sights on the pinks and oranges of a sunset, the blue of the water, the white of the clouds. Pamella Roland and her team wanted to create pieces that were light but still felt appropriately important in the context of her brand. She riffed on rippling waters in the gradient-effect beading (not one, but four shades of milky blue bugle beads) on the front of a wispy sheath and the undulating bodice of a gown. One of her odes to those MI sunsets came in the form of a peachy-orange A-line dress, ombré not only in color, but in opacity, as the dress dissolved into an airy sheerness at the hem.

There was indeed a lot of lightness here, a nice development to Roland’s occasionally overwrought styles. The showier numbers, like a sorbet-colored silk evening gown with big metallic blooms scattered across the skirt and a multihued, rose-print tiered frock were less compelling than the simpler ones. That powder blue beaded sheath was a winner.