Mary Katrantzou’s New Capsule Collection Has Us Dreaming Of Beachside Vacations

Mary Katrantzou is giving us wanderlust. The London-based designer has launched Mary-Mare, a collection inspired by sunny, oceanfront destinations: Cannes, Nice, Greece, Portofino, Monte Carlo, Venice, Dubrovnik, Costa Brava, the Côte d'Azur, and more. Prints of seashells and other forms of ocean life are featured prominently on flowing skirts, sarongs, and tunics. Tropical flowers are cast on long dresses perfect for a beachside brunch or night under the summer moon. Rich, vibrant colors in geometric patterns cover tops and palazzo pants. And enlarged vintage stamps with scenes of these balmy locales are adorned on shirts, wrap skirts, and kaftans. Also, all the pieces run up to size 20.

It is intended to be a seasonless, year-round capsule line—though it did release when resort collections would normally hit store racks, and when the masses would usually be planning their vacations and looking for outfits to pack for their trips. That said, any plans to book flights and hotels have been hindered due to the coronavirus outbreak. The mandate to self-quarantine and the shuttering of nonessential businesses have kept everyone at home, including Katrantzou’s team. She, like so many other designers, has had to find creative solutions to market her brand at a time when staff and resources aren’t readily available.

For example, the photo shoot for the collection, which had been in the pipeline for 18 months, when it was sold to buyers last June, simply couldn’t be done. So in its place, Katrantzou worked with her design team on an illustrated campaign of the vintage stamps that were featured prominently in the lineup. If anything, the workaround drives the point of timelessness more than, say, the standard depictions of models posing in front of scenic backdrops.

The images have been released on the brand’s Instagram account, along with the hashtag #WishWeWereThere. Indeed, many of us are pining for the day when we all can change out of our sweats, leave our respective homes, and get back to jaunting away to far-flung destinations. When that moment happens, we have the Mary-Mare collection ready and waiting to be ordered.

This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR US.

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