Simon Miller creative director Chelsea Hansford follows the style school of thought that animal prints aren’t a statement but a neutral. So in the brand’s resort collection, cheetah and zebra designs are her version of a little black dress: “They run wild in this collection,” Hansford said from Los Angeles. Indeed, everything from suits, dresses, coats, to shoes come in animalistic form . . . a clear visible thread running throughout it all.
Yet despite the dominant presence, wild beasts weren’t the main inspiration for this collection, which Hansford calls “Gala.” The name is a double entendre. Not only are a lot of the pieces formal wear that you could wear to a black tie event, but “Gala” was also the name of Salvador Dali’s wife. Surrealist imagery, said Hansford, was a major pinpoint on her moodboard.
It’s seen most obviously in a lip-shaped bag and a lip-print dress, a nod to the Mae West Lips sofa made by Dali in 1937. Hansford also said she took metallic color cues from Dali’s melting clocks. A black evening gown is accented with a gold bow and matching gloves. Another dress comes in shimmering silver sequins with a matching coat. (The latter is a favorite color of the Simon Miller customer: “In accessories we sell silver probably better than we sell black,” she said.) They’re designs not for the wallflower, but the spotlight seeker—Hansford pointed to the dresses at the famous Rothschild surrealist ball, which embraced “lavishness and drama.”
It’s not all evening wear: there’s some pieces that would fare better in day rather than at night, like striped linen dresses and button downs. Yet as Hansford explained, basic staples were not the point. “We aren’t a quiet luxury brand—we are, as I say, a playful luxury brand.”
