Cruise/resort season is based on the principles of wanderlust, travel, and exploration. A sense of rootlessness and mobility pervades the tradition, based on semi-annual trips to seaside towns and resort communities. In other words, vacay. From the spirit of the traveler, comes a mountain of merch—oh, and creativity, beauty—all the things that make fashion thrilling. VALENTINO Resort 2018 was staged in an open, "raw" interior at ZERO BOND STREET, NYC—a local place for many of the show's attendees, but a destination or pure fantasy for others. So goes the story of the collection. PIERPAOLO PICCIOLI has a talent for drawing in visual references and combining them in clothes like facets of a glittering prism. The resort 2018 collection was no exception. Inspired by the pressure-cooker cultural exchange of downtown NYC, the clothes brought in elements of early hip hop, pre-Columbian motifs, military-inspired outerwear, and a collab with ZANDRA RHODES. I spied some color cues from Rhodes as well. The collection was at its best where the concept of streetwear stopped at Valentino's door, or rather, bowed to it—tracksuits and early hip hop were inspirations, but they were elongated, embellished, and re-realized through the longstanding technical capabilities of the Valentino atelier. White contrast piping and trim, so recognizable from tracksuits worn by hip hop's early progenitors (and today on hoodies in SILICON VALLEY—the place and the show), were elevated to a thing of ornament, forming precise lines stitched over the contours of the body. Fashion is at its best when, sensitive to the wider world, it offers new forms of expression—part recognition, part new envisioning. The collection was yet another lens to the "street." Today's traveler requires modes of a different sort, so there was sport, there were separates, and there were sneakers, all done the Valentino way. Which meant there were fluid, columnar, floor-sweeping gowns, too. Piccioli is going strong... LIL UZI VERT wore Valentino to the BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS: a sheer ivory blouse accented with lace and flared cuffs. He really pulled it off, IMHO. Others (read: ppl on the internet) didn't see it that way. His message to doubters: "They've never felt these fabrics before." All I can say is good looks, Uzi... FLORIANE DE SAINT PIERRE is fashion's creative headhunter... COMSCORE numbers for top fashion magazines... Ever thought about tracking beards over time? This piece in VESTOJ tracks the tendencies and masculinities built up around facial hair.