MARCHESA RESORT 2012

MARCHESA RESORT 2012

Slim Aarons' legendary book of photographsA Place in the Sun was a starting point forMarchesa's Resort lineup. The floaty coral caftan with the matching bead embroidery at the shoulders and the thigh-scraping metallic lace dress were designed for parties by the pool and cocktails under the stars rather than the red carpet and the photographers angling for shots beside it. "We take a more sales-driven approach to this collection," explained designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig.

A label can't live on celebrity dressing alone. Still, we wouldn't be surprised to see a few of these numbers on the pages of a gossip magazine. Neither the showstopping allover silver beaded floor-length dress with a plunging back or a white goddess gown with a shawl of jeweled fringe made it through their first day of appointments before being requested for a shoot or an event or some other fabulous thing.

ELIE SAAB RESORT 2012

ELIE SAAB RESORT 2012

JUJU IVANYUK (NATHALIE)

Elie Saab is out to change his all-evening-dresses-all-the-time image. The Beirut-based designer hired photographer Cedric Buchet to photograph a model in a pantsuit for his Fall ad campaign, and there were more of those fitted looks in his first-ever Resort collection. Nothing androgynous about Saab's two-piecers.

Double crepe jackets were cut close to the body with a little flip at the hem, and trousers came in two styles: lean and leaner. A chartreuse tie-neck blouse worn with high-waisted pants as snug as jodhpurs played into fashion's current fixation with neons. After-dark options were likewise bright—fuchsia, turquoise, red—but the silhouettes weren't as new. No matter, his celebrity following will snap them up for the red carpet.