With her usual sprinkling of color, loose cuts and prints, Mara Hoffman’s Spring/Summer 2015 runway at New York Fashion Week was a bright collection that proves culottes, cutouts and crop tops are not going away anytime soon. Tying in swimwear, cover-ups and ready-to-wear, the line was absolutely summer the only way Hoffman knows how to do it. The show, entitled The Sunrisers, was inspired by light and used a much softer color palette and simpler print than we're used to seeing from the American designer. While it was far from her best, it was an ambitious collection and strayed from her normal aesthetic of neon brights and kaleidoscope prints.
Inspired by light (and with a title like The Sunrisers), we can only assume the soft colors of breaking dawn inspired Hoffman's summer collection. Known so well for her bold mismatch of design, the pastel hues are a welcome pace and showcase the peaceful more tranquil side of the summer season. The collection feels relaxed and “serves as a subtle reminder to take a personal breath and exist in a place of lightness.” And this softness exists in texture, color and silhouette as everything within the collection was done with an easy touch that's new for Mara Hoffman, but surprisingly worked.
Over the past few seasons Hoffman has been slowly abandoning her iconic colors, most recently during her RTW collection from Fall 2014. Her prints on the other hand, have never strayed far from their kaleidoscope effects and flora prints, but this season she’s clearly working outside her comfort zone. With the exception of a few leafy patterns and lightly textured fabrics, the collection as a whole seems almost simplistic. Solids, colored stitching and large, circular prints take the place of her normally trippy designs—and while it’s definitely Mara Hoffman, at the same time it isn’t.
Our personal love for bold, tropical prints aside, we like the new direction that she’s taking with her collections. They’re just as beach-ready without excluding anyone who doesn’t have the Pacific in their backyard, and even easier to pair with pieces already in your closet. Those who prefer Hoffman’s “traditional” print should stayed tuned for next season—it seems like she's been attempting to revamp her looks as of late, so she might just nail the perfect blend of aesthetics for Fall 2015.
