WHEREVER Topshop's girl is headed this summer it's going to be hot because those barely-there silk slip dresses suspended from the tiniest of spaghetti straps will demand balmy climates. Desirably throw-on, they billowed in deep Mediterranean blues. For chillier days, she will be thankful for all that suede, which looked expensive (there is plenty of it around for spring, and for anyone hankering after Proenza Schouler's, which debuted last week, this would be your more reasonably-priced answer). Full skirts with drawstring waists, tops with deflated peplums, the series was standout. Meanwhile, Topshop's denim offering extended to patchwork hoodies and outsize jackets, and low-slung raw denim jeans with exaggerated cuffs, something that we have seen now for several seasons; first at Celine, then MiH. Those tired turn-ups were at odds with the trailblazing vibe usually associated with a Topshop girl, but that's a minor detail.
This was a collection spiked with global influences and crafty details, like a series of floppy crochet knits, a sun-bleached Moroccan tile print, dresses with ethnic fringed trims (the sort that one might pick up at a souk), and others more worked in the shape of shiny satin, A-line mini shifts appliquéd in scattered shards of mirrored glass.
Above all else, Topshop mostly got the measure of its customer: girls who holiday in places like Ibiza, who pack a suitcase filled with clothes that can work for endless days that run into night, and nights, into days. Any one of these pieces could work on a beach at sunrise or sunset; and come summer, that's just what they will do.