Cruise collection

A cruise collection or resort collection or resort wear, sometimes also referred to as holiday or travel collection (collection croisière, in French), is an inter-season or pre-season line of ready-to-wear clothing produced by a fashion house or fashion brand in addition to the recurrent twice-yearly seasonal collections - spring/summer and autumn (or fall)/winter - heralded at the fashion shows in New York, London, Paris and Milan.

Originally meant for wealthy customers or "more seasoned jet-setters"[1] going on cruises (e.g. North Americans) or vacationing in the warm Mediterranean area (e.g. Europeans) during the winter months, cruise collections offer light spring or summer clothing when the weather at the points of sale actually calls for winter apparel.[2] These days, they are targeted at customers who have "finished buying their fall wardrobes and are looking ahead to vacations".[3] These "warm-weather designs [...] arrive in the shops in the US in November",[4] after the autumn/winter collections and before the spring/summer collections, or generally between November/December and February in the Northern hemisphere.

High fashion houses like Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Marc Jacobs, and Ralph Lauren offer cruise/resort collections. Although usually intended for women, lately "menswear is coming aboard with Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Prada, Zegna, Etro, Gucci and Burberry often sneaking a few resort looks into the fall fashion shows" or producing signature cruise collections.[2] Yves Saint-Laurent presented its first men's cruise collection in 2006 which has since then been offered every year.[5]

Designers, store buyers, and the media are viewing "resort wear" as a specialized year-round clothing style and fashion season. Areas such as Las Vegas, Marbella, Bahamas, Palm Beach, San Juan, and the San Barth and the Mustique Islands were holiday destinations, but they are now places of year-round living for more affluent customers. In tourist destinations like Dubai, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, the Spanish Coast, Costa Rica and the Greek Islands, resort wear is growing in popularity. It has become a cross-cultural style that signifies relaxation, affluence, and appreciation of nature which displays a sense of style to the wearer.

From walking shorts, caftans and sandals, to full-length evening dresses for women and light dinner jackets for men, resort wear is unique in its design and function. Resort wear is generally made from cotton, silk, denim, microfiber, straw, light linen and poplin that are easy to pack, lightweight and breathable. They are easy to clean and look great without ironing. It is characterized by the "nautical" style, inspired by sailor and yachting themes, classic Hawaiian prints of palm trees and hula girls, brushed denim from San Francisco, bright floral prints from South America, minty greens, yellows, blues and whites from the Mediterranean and natural materials and glove-weight leathers from the Caribbean. Large hats, sunglasses, open-toed shoes and innovative waistlines complete the look of sun-soaked destinations.

Though mainstream fashion houses like J. Crew, Banana Republic, Lilly Pulitzer, and Tommy Bahama have democratized and popularized the style, high-end houses and designers like Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, Rachel Zoe, John Galliano, Matthew Williamson, Anna Sui, Prada, and Marc Jacobs have shown resort wear in their collections. Several upstarts like Devereux have created entire brands around relaxed, resort-style athletic motifs.[6]

Moreover, resort wear also encompasses swimsuits and bathing suit cover ups, with brands like KIINI[7] which specialize in this segment of the resort wear market. There are also brands originating from destination islands where resort wear is a main staple and is worn all year round, such as BIASA from Bali, Psylo from Koh Samui, and Villebrequin from Saint Tropez.