Five Fantasy Fashion Holidays

The fashion calendar dictates that Autumn/Winter collections hit stores in the deep summer months, leaving plenty of opportunity for those coveted new styles to work their way into your suitcase this holiday season. With July just around the corner, that time has almost come, and whilst chunky knitwear and heavyweight fabrications aren’t necessarily suitable for that beach break in Alicante, there will always be pieces that are – look no further than Balenciaga’s skimpy floral A/W17 dresses as a case in point.

With this in mind, we turned to this season’s runways to picture where the muses behind the collections might have travelled for their own holidays. From Raf Simons’ debut at Calvin Klein, where the Belgian designer paid homage to the vast landscapes of middle America, to Mrs Prada’s intellectual protestors, who would obviously book some time at a literary retreat as a form of R&R, perhaps these five fantasy holiday destinations can offer you some inspiration for where you’ll head to next.

1. The Calvin Klein Woman (above)

Raf Simons’ highly anticipated debut collection for Calvin Klein was an all-out homage to Americana. Simons’ muse saw a diluted midwestern archetype meet the chic 90s minimalism that we have come to expect from the brand. With double denim and double leather looks aplenty, we could only picture the Calvin Klein woman heading out to the desert and kicking sand with those cowboy inspired boots. 

Packing attire: Double denim, cowboy boots, polo necks and yellow feathers sandwiched between layers of clear PVC
The stay: The back of a station wagon in a desert in the American midwest 
The soundtrack: Roy Orbison and David Bowie
The tipple: Warm Budweiser
Cultural companions: A Wild at Heart VHS
Unlikely to say: “Is this top too see-through?”
Has a penchant for: Rattlesnakes

2. The Marc Jacobs Woman

Marc Jacobs’ models walked down a runway in silence and onto the streets of New York City, the only noise permeating the stamping of their platform shoes coming from the beeping of taxi horns on the road outside the show venue. A tribute to early hip-hop, the Marc Jacobs muse would be booking a trip on a time machine back to the 1970s to hang out with Sylvia Robinson. 

Packing attire: Huge hats, huge platforms and huge gold jewellery
The stay: New York in the late 1970s
The soundtrack: Sugar Hill Gang or total silence
The tipple: Whisky and grape soda
Cultural companions: Sylvia Robinson, mother of hip-hop 
Unlikely to say: Anything at all 
Has a penchant for: Beeping the horns of BMWs

3. The Simone Rocha Woman

Ireland is always a huge influence on Simone Rocha’s work, and unsurprisingly so seeing as the designer grew up in the Republic’s largest city, Dublin. It was no different this season, except we saw Lancaster House in London’s St. James play host to her latest collection, neatly connecting her homeland to its quintessentially British neighbour. The soundtrack, a traditional folk song called Katie Cruel, accompanied clothes that distinctly reference miltary dress. With the shoes reminding us of the bearskin hats of the Buckingham Palace guards, the Simone Rocha woman becomes a tourist in her own city. 

Packing attire: Velvet coats with multiple pockets, floor-dusting furry shoes, an abundance of lace
The stay: London
The soundtrack: Traditional Irish folk music
The tipple: A cup of tea with milk and one sugar
Cultural companions: A book of James Joyce poems
Unlikely to say: “Can you hold this for me?”
Has a penchant for: Men in the military

4. The Prada Woman

“We have decided to look at the role women had in the shaping of modern society, their political participation and social achievements,” read the Prada A/W17 show notes. And although Mrs Prada refrains from making political comment herself, the collection certainly gave a nod towards her days as a placard-waving protestor in 1970s Italy. The natural getaway destination for such a woman is of course one the encourages reflection. A literary retreat in a cabin in the woods with a group of fellow intellectuals would do the trick.

Packing attire: Corduroy suiting, baker boy caps, knitted bra-lettes and cowry shell jewellery
The stay: A cabin in the woods
The soundtrack: Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor
The tipple: Kombucha
Cultural companions: Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine 
Unlikely to say: “Protest is irrelevant” 
Has a penchant for: Ugly rainbow jumpers

5. The Céline Woman

The Céline muse is a complex character. For A/W17 it seemed that Phoebe Philo had designed a collection for her version of the corporate woman, but, of course, one who still has her signature quirks. Large fuzzy blankets were tucked under arms and maps were printed on outerwear, while models walked in every direction on the runway. We can only conclude that this woman would take solace from her 9-5 by hanging out in the middle of nowhere, with only her cartographically printed trenchcoat to guide her. 

Packing attire: Map printed trench coats, boxy shoulder pads, exaggerated collars and statement earrings
The stay: The Middle of Nowhere
The soundtrack: Philip Glass
The tipple: Sparkling water and a slice of lemon
Cultural companions: The Céline woman travels solo
Unlikely to say: “I have an excellent sense of direction”
Has a penchant for: Blankets