Preen By Thornton Bregazzi Resort 2015

Review by Maya Singer
Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi have got their Preen by Thornton Bregazzi thing down to a science. Sport elements, fractured pattern, an emphasis on the dressy-but-not-too-dressy dress, the color red—these are some of the boxes Thornton and Bregazzi tick off in their collections, season in and season out. Given the emphasis on commerce, Resort isn't the season to ask for a major update. But one is starting to seem due. In the meantime, however, this collection made for a pleasant visit back to the Preen comfort zone, with a lot of appealingly breezy dresses in a fractured ikat-inspired pattern of silk dévoré, and others in an irregular dot. They also included activewear references, like zips, mesh, and the graphic line down the side of a pair of trousers. There were a couple of dubious looks—a blazer with nylon anorak sleeves, for instance—but in general Thornton and Bregazzi did yeoman's work on the details of these clothes, and the best pieces here had a sense of surprise as a result of that. Perhaps the single most compelling look, for example, was the trenchcoat, cut long or short, with an interior halter that made it seem to be falling off the shoulders a bit and neon vinyl stripes along the cuff. There's some kick in the old Preen codes yet, that's for sure.