A sense of ease pervades Christopher Esber’s resort collection. “I was actually just thinking about the idea of being more playful,” he said via Zoom from his studio in Sydney. “The previous collection was a bit more serious and I needed some relaxation: I looked at everyday things like bombers and t-shirts and found ways to improve and distort them.” The first look featured a classic leather bomber jacket whose silhouette was “expanded horizontally and vertically,” bringing the length to the knee and making the sleeves extra voluminous. It was combined with white denim Bermuda shorts with green lace, a romantic take on a traditionally casual item.
That subversion of sporty continued through a draped ribbed turtleneck with a contrasting white zipper at the front for a scuba touch, which he paired with a lace skirt attached to the washed and ripped waistband of a pair of jeans. There was also a surf vibe in a dress with a double-layered yellow top that connected to a matte silk satin turquoise skirt via one of his signature loop details. Basketball shorts inspired a party-ready halter wrap dress.
In addition to the sporty inspiration, experimenting with textures was central. A sweater knitted with raffia had a fringed edge at the back that emphasized the unorthodox material; a distressed leather that was actually a “sprayed suede” looked like a luscious chocolate dessert. “This speaks to the idea of combining the informal with the graceful. We had a lot of pictures on the board this season of plants being grafted onto other plants; it was this idea of mixing things that you wouldn’t necessarily put together and finding the balance to make it work,” he explained.
The lightness Esber was aiming for with this collection was perhaps most evident in a T-shirt that was almost hidden beneath an oversized suit with a broken pinstripe and large, contrasting sleeves. It was decorated with an image of dazzling lips in mid-sentence, and the words “Whatever Happened to Fun?” (a line memorably delivered by Kristen Johnston in her iconic performance as Lexi Fetherston on the Sex and the city). “It just stuck in my mind, it’s such a sweet moment,” Esber added. It was therefore not surprising when the designer was announced as one of the finalists for the ANDAM Award a few days after our conversation.
