“I feel like baby number three sort of inspired the desert vibes,” said Alice + Olivia designer Stacey Bendet, who is scheduled to give birth next Tuesday and still had the wherewithal to slip into a minidress and thigh-high platform boots for her presentation today. “This pregnancy got me really thinking about the inner goddess of the woman, which led me somehow to the desert,” she said.
Of course, the aforementioned bump made traveling a good deal trickier. Bendet thus relied on the desert of her imagination, conjuring up images of Earth Mothers and boho babes frolicking among the dunes in hand-embroidered skirts, flouncy off-the-shoulder tops and gowns, and sun-baked neutrals. It helped, too, that she had a man on the ground. “[Contemporary artist] Francesco Clemente is a good friend of mine and he kept texting me photos of desert butterflies and flowers, so that also helped to inspire the collection,” said Bendet.
Overall, this was a softer, more romantic outing for Alice + Olivia. Bendet worked with chiffons and ruffles in pale shades of nude, blush, and icy blue to create what she dubbed her “goddess gowns.” She also wanted to create dresses that could be worn during the day with flats, but would still be sufficiently special for evening. Bendet accomplished her goal in the patchwork lace dresses in black and faded ivory that swished delicately at the ankle. Meanwhile, a high-neck gown, hand-embroidered with flowers, was exactly the kind of thing one dreams of wearing to a Mexican wedding one day.
While Alice + Olivia is still strongest in the eveningwear category, Bendet had plenty on offer for day, too. The designer introduced a line of “couture denim” into the collection this season—flared jeans that had been hand-embroidered with flowers or laser-cut in a leaf pattern. “I really wanted to focus on the return of the pant as a statement item,” said Bendet, who also churned out embellished wide-leg “gown pants.” Every season the designer includes a capsule black-and-white collection—mixed in with the boho embroidery and soft hues, those pieces felt a little out of place this go-round. However, Bendet knows her customers well, and each season a portion of them unfailingly want black and white: Sometimes creative vision has to bow to good old-fashioned business sense.