a little turn of the catwalk

For Resort 2013, Nicolas Ghesquière looked to the ballet costumes designed by his house's founder in the '30s. Updating those pastel-hued vintage pieces with a few well-placed flourishes — and adding deeper colors like rust and navy blue — yielded a line of fluid, feminine clothing with decidedly modern edge. Second-skin sleeveless tops got cutouts shaped like hearts and teardrops, while a few flared dresses and skirts were injected with movement by way of ruffles stitched to their hemlines. Unexpected leather elements like skirts and harnesses helped those sweeter pieces feel right at home next to more masculine pinstripe pants and boxy jackets. And as if to underscore his balletic inspiration further, Ghesquière paired the looks with gladiator boots accented by stacks of bows.

Olivier Theyskens's considerable talent for matching slouch with sleek was in full effect for Resort 2013. Among this season's standouts? A relaxed, cape-back jumpsuit with draped waist ties and a chiffon-sleeved minidress, the body of which was covered hem to hilt in sequins textured to shimmer like the skin of some exotic fish. While the details — a psychedelic oil-spill print here, a smattering of irridescent feathers there — lent a vaguely subversive spin, the palette of black, gray, and wine kept everything on the easy-wearing citified side. After all, "Resort is really about essentials that speak to modern life," the designer explained.

Jet-setting escapes along the Tuscan coast — and in particular, those captured by the likes of Juergen Teller and Slim Aarons in the photo tome Hotel Il Pellicano — were the starting point for Lubov and Max Azria's transportive Resort 2013 collection. The result is a vacationer's dream wardrobe: superbreezy, bright, and full of pieces that will go from poolside to town with ease. Dresses, caftans, pants, and shorts are cut in easy, fluid fabrics, and for those who like a little adventure, nearly everything comes adorned with exotic prints, intricate lace, and ethnic-inspired embroidery.

Massimiliano Giornetti's Resort 2013 collection for Salvatore Ferragamo was infused with time-honored Italian artistry — but with a decidedly updated edge. "It's super-modern and yet connected with the classics because every piece is the product of a tradition of ancient craft," he said. "The Ferragamo girl is cool, but she's got culture."

Perhaps that Italian influence was especially important at this show, the first by an Italian fashion house to be put on at the Louvre. (Ferragamo is currently sponsoring an exhibit of Leonardo da Vinci's work at the museum.) Pale-hued pieces showed off Giornetti's handiwork, like dresses that came in panels laced together by leather cords, or in crocheted pieces finished with fringe. Giornetti said one tank dress, made of strips of leather affixed with small pieces of metal, took four people 10 days to create. Many of the looks were shown with knee-high boots and handbags made from snakeskin or suede.

Giornetti said he wanted to focus on "slow fashion," with a particular focus on "the time that goes into each piece. It's about the old masters, but with a young spin."

"I wanted to take the idea of safari, which is such a cliché, and twist it to make it feel modern," said Derek Lam of his Resort 2013 collection. Those twists included combining giraffe-print skirts and dresses with khaki anoraks and turning olive-green fabric into an elegant dress and pair of pants. The pieces that aren't as well primed for glamorous hunting — like a cherry-red A-line dress — still feature military details like chest pockets. But it's a dress with a bodice made of nylon webbing attached to a leather skirt that best expresses Lam's mission with this collection: to make strong clothing that women can wear no matter where their journeys take them.

Molly Ringwald's character in Pretty in Pink inspired Derek Lam's Resort 2013 collection for his year-old line, 10 Crosby. So it makes sense that Lam would hire flame-haired model Sara Blomqvist to star in the lookbook for the lineup, which depicts what seems to be a glamorous trip back from the corner store. Accessorized almost exclusively by plastic and paper grocery bags bearing the 10 Crosby logo, Blomqvist wears Lam's signature silk pajamas, along with a few borrowed-from-the-boys pieces like a double-breasted blazer and an icy-blue collarless dress shirt with black sleeves. Ringwald's '80s influence is felt in the pleasantly discordant mix of patterns and colors — a red plaid shirt paired with blue-, black-, and white-striped pants, for example, and a plaid blazer over a white shirt and pleated skirt.

Scott Sternberg took inspiration for his Boy by Band of Outsiders Resort 2013 collection from a place that's very familiar to him: his home. The designer attributed the influence of the collection's geometric patterns — including the stripes applied to a hoodie, skirt, blazer, and various dresses — to his Bauhaus-inspired abode in Los Angeles. But the line isn't all graphic prints: there are a few pieces that feature a sailboat graphic, a leather skirt trimmed in seersucker, and a short green trench coat with floral print sleeves. But some of Sternberg's best pieces are solid staples: a black evening gown and a white jumpsuit stand out among the other truly excellent pieces in this collection.