Christopher Esber Resort 2026

In a season brimming with “reinvented classics,” Christopher Esber said he wanted to bring a little whimsy to his resort collection through draping and sculpting rather than just cutting fabric away. “This collection is really about fantasy meets function,” the designer said in a Zoom interview from his studio in Sydney. “In my mind, I kept playing back the idea of escaping, of desert horizons, sunbaked highways and bringing in more textiles and colors that speak to that landscape.” just kept on driving, but for Esber that feminist classic was top of mind. Did that mean he, too, would make a run for it? Definitely not, the designer said. “I just really connected with that spirit of changing things up and forging your own way.” Part of the process was giving himself the freedom to revisit and refine things that perhaps aren’t considered cool anymore, he said, like an aged stripe or a snip of lace encrusted unevenly on a yellow top or inserted on a green dress. The goal was to strike a balance between retro and contemporary aesthetics. An out-of-character garment, for example, can sometimes turn out to be a perfect fit.