Yigal Azrouël Resort 2015

Review by Maya Singer
Yigal Azrouël got back to basics this season. His palette? Oh-so-basic black and white, plus a shot of bright blue that worked like a highlighter. His shapes? Body con and sporty/slouchy, the brand's binary code. Even the flourishes harked back to Azrouël fundamentals—graphic patterns and an architectural influence on the cutting. The elements felt familiar, but that was OK: This was a concise and very confident tour of Azrouël's comfort zone, with a lot of winning pieces. The star of the collection, without a doubt, was the jumpsuit, executed in a black-and-white tropical-weight wool, an allover black crepe, and a silk print. With it's sexy cutaway top and cropped flare legs, the jumpsuit insinuated itself neatly into that tight niche of the thing you wear to a dressy-but-not-that-dressy party. It looked good with Azrouël's collarless blazers, and, for a more casual vibe, it would also work with the collection's other standout piece, the bomber jacket in ultra-supple, unbelievably lightweight leather. Both those items will fly at retail. Elsewhere, Azrouël had some intriguing textile developments—eye-catching zigzag tweed and geometric lace—and his low-slung boyish trousers and gaucho pants made for a nice proportions update. The other key theme was the wrapping effect on body-con dresses and tops, a technique that introduced some freshness to those tried-and-true silhouettes. And that was the takeaway here, really—not much news, but lots of well-executed elaborations of the designer's signatures.